ARCADIA, Calif. - The faces filing into the jockeys' room in Southern California are changing so quickly that issuing nametags may not be a bad idea.
Since the Santa Anita meeting began in late December, jockeys Ryan Barber, Mark Johnston, Chuck Lopez, Tony Lovato, David Nuesch, Wade Rini, and Scotty Ziesing have relocated to California.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - You might see Gander running in grass races this year, but it probably won't be in next Saturday's $100,000 Fort Marcy Handicap at Aqueduct.
Gander, last year's champion older male New York-bred, is among 50 horses nominated to the Grade 3 Fort Marcy, the first grass stakes in New York this year.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dave Cotey has come a long way in a short time.
Cotey, a hands-on owner who became a licensed trainer in 2001, enjoyed a successful first year training the likes of stakes winners Lady Shari and Stage Classic.
The 55-year-old Cotey, who owns a share of all his runners under his nom du course, Dominion Bloodstock, had an even better year in 2002. He improved his stats - in both races and money won - and celebrated Lady Shari's coronation as Canada's champion 3-year-old filly.
LEXINGTON, KY. - Once affixed, a label can be very difficult to shed. After Ronny Werner won a slew of races for 2-year-olds at the 2001 Keeneland and Churchill Downs spring meets, it wasn't long until Kentucky racing fans knew him simply as the trainer with a golden touch with babies.
Yet for all his initial success, Werner attempted to downplay that stereotype, saying he hoped to eventually prove that he was equally adept at training a far wider variety of Thoroughbreds. And now, just two years later, Werner is doing just that.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Raging Fever is not a need-the-lead type, but when able to make the front uncontested she is awfully tough to beat.
That looks to be the case Saturday when Raging Fever seeks to defend her title in the Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup Handicap at Aqueduct against four tactically disadvantaged rivals. A Grade 3, $150,000 race at one mile, the Bed o' Roses is being run for the 47th time.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Shine Again, winner of the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap at age 4 and 5, will make her 6-year-old debut Saturday in a money allowance race at Aqueduct.
Owned by Mrs. Richard duPont, Shine Again has not raced since winning the Grade 2 First Flight Handicap over this track last Oct. 26. Shine Again, trained by Allen Jerkens, is 4 for 4 over Aqueduct's main track, including three allowance victories at six furlongs, the distance of Saturday's race.
CALGARY, Alberta - Sixthirtyjoe and Tyko Tycoon renew a heated rivalry in Saturday's $21,900 allowance feature over six furlongs at Stampede Park.
A few hours later, the results of another contest between the two runners will be announced at the annual Alberta awards banquet here.
Sixthirtyjoe and Tyko Tycoon faced each other eight times last year, with Sixthirtyjoe winning four of those races and Tyko Tycoon winning three. Sixthirtyjoe is an overwhelming favorite to capture divisional honors in the older horse category, but the champion sprinter title is up for grabs.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mike Maker, who has served as a top assistant to trainer D. Wayne Lukas for the last eight years, is opening his own stable, effective as early as next Saturday.
Maker, 34, began working as a foreman for Lukas in 1994 and was promoted to assistant the following year. Charismatic, Cat Thief, Orientate, Surfside, and Spain were some of the Lukas stars with whom Maker was closely associated.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Malcolm Pierce has been quick off the mark here this spring, with three wins from four entrants heading into this weekend's racing.
And while Pierce will be looking to keep the ball rolling in Saturday's Woodstock with I'm the Tiger, his first stakes starter of the meet, he realizes the task won't be an easy one.
"It looks like it's come up a little salty," said Pierce, of the open, six-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds. "My horse hasn't done anything wrong yet, but this will be a serious test for him."
Trainer Gary Capuano admits Cherokee's Boy isn't ready to tackle the nation's best 3-year-olds in the Kentucky Derby. But Capuano does have his eye on the second leg of racing's Triple Crown.
Cherokee's Boy, a winner of four restricted stakes but no better than third in three tries in stakes races against open company, will try to use Saturday's $150,000 Tesio Stakes at Pimlico as a stepping-stone to the Preakness.