HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Judge Sez Who figured to be a major contender in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap March 29, but never got the chance to compete after he injured his hind leg when he was cast in his stall less than 72 hours before the race.
Trainer Milt Wolfson is hoping The Judge Sez Who can stay out of trouble long enough to run on Sunday as one of the favorites in the $75,000 Skip Away Handicap.
Prairie Meadows begins its 52-day Thoroughbred meet Friday night with a clean slate, as much of the uncertainty that surrounded the future of this central Iowa racetrack and casino in 2002 has been resolved.
At this time last year, Prairie Meadows and horsemen were beginning the final year of a five-year purse contract and the sides were far apart on a new agreement. A county-wide referendum to determine if slot machine gambling at the track would continue was scheduled to be held in November 2002.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Beginning this week, live racing will be conducted five days a week, on Thursdays through Mondays. Beginning in May, all days (except May 14) will have 7 & 7 cards with River Downs.
With only three days left in the meeting, Gary Johnson has a two-victory edge over Jerry Hollendorfer, 17-15, in the trainers race. Rodney Faulkner is third with 13.
Mike Rowland has a comfortable five-winner edge over Lyndon Hannigan among jockeys. Hannigan will be serving a suspension for the balance of the meet.
Jockey John McKee had a warm homecoming at River Downs earlier this week. The leading rider at River Downs in 2002, McKee rode in five races on Monday and Tuesday, winning twice and finishing second in the other three.
McKee, who last year broke Steve Cauthen's record for most wins by an apprentice at River Downs, moved his tack to Kentucky last fall and then spent the winter riding at Aqueduct. McKee is currently at Keeneland, where he had ridden five winners through Sunday's card.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - The countdown to this track's showcase event, the $100,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Handicap, is officially on. Nominations for the 1 1/16-mile handicap for older horses closed Wednesday afternoon. As of early Wednesday, 29 horses had been nominated for the April 26 race. Heading the list is Slider, runner-up to Medaglia d'Oro in the Oaklawn Handicap.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Billy Adams, who trains a small stable here, uncorked three winners Tuesday afternoon at Fairmount Park. He won the second race with Westrika ($5.80), then struck again in the fifth race with Buck's Little Bean ($29.60). The highlight of Adams's day came in the featured eighth, which matched the best older horses on the grounds in a classified allowance.
Adams saddled 6-year-old Living a Dream, who scored a $12.80 upset, beating favored Junket by three lengths.
Jockey Ronnie Gabriel, aboard 19-1 Family Covenant, rode his first winner in over 12 years in Monday's third race at Hawthorne.
Gabriel, 52, originally retired from riding after the 1990 season. He spent the intervening years as a trainer and then as an assistant to the Sportsman's Park clerk of scales. Gabriel made a return to the saddle late last year.
CALGARY, Alberta - Bar None Ranches, the leading money-winning stable at this meet last year, will be represented by the formidable entry of Harbour Ice and Ledbury in the featured seventh race at Stampede Park on a Good Friday holiday card that begins at 1 p.m. Mountain.
Ron Grieves, who captured his first training title here last spring, will saddle Ledbury. His brother Kelly Grieves, in his first season as a full-fledged trainer after several seasons as an assistant and groom, will saddle the speedy Harbour Ice.
PORTLAND, Wash. - Glad to Be Here made an inauspicious start to his racing career at Portland Meadows on opening day, Oct. 19, when he finished sixth, beaten 19 lengths by Stately Jack Flash in a maiden special weight sprint.
He has come an awfully long way since then.
Glad to Be Here, a Jumron colt who races for breeder Burle Oakley, scored his maiden win in his next start, then ran third in the six-furlong Bill Wineberg before snatching top Oregon-bred 2-year-old honors with a surprise win in the Dec. 14 Oregon Futurity at a mile.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When you're hot, you're hot, and trainer Bob Tiller has been sizzling.
Tiller entered the week atop the Woodbine trainer standings in both races won, with seven, and earnings, with $488,190, from 24 starters.
He has dominated the early stakes, with three straight victories. He trains Rare Friends and Brass in Pocket, who won the two stakes races here last week, and his runner Winter Garden scored an upset in the April 5 Star Shoot.