STICKNEY, Ill. - The meaning of a new Chicago racing season wasn't lost on the 5,126 racing-starved fans who turned out Saturday at Hawthorne Race Course.
The new season also represented an opportunity for Classic Appeal to erase the memory of his frustrating 2002. Ridden by Carlos Silva, Classic Appeal rallied from mid-pack to post a 2 1/4-length victory in the opening-day feature, the $43,200 Hula Chief Stakes, rewarding his backers with a $9.60 win mutuel.
NEW ORLEANS - Four have traveled from Florida and three from California to race Sunday at Fair Grounds. But if recent history is any gauge, the four-horse local contingent will give the shippers everything they can handle in the Grade 2, $500,000 New Orleans Handicap.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sunday's $100,000 Suwannee River Handicap is an ending for Calista and Amonita, who are both headed to the breeding shed after the race. It could also be a beginning for Party Queen, who makes her stakes debut in the Grade 3 race.
Then again, the nine-furlong Suwannee River could be just another notch in the holster of Stay Forever, who has been on a roll since returning from a bowed tendon that sidelined her for 18 months.
PORTLAND, Ore. - The journey to the Oregon Derby will begin in earnest on Sunday when Portland Meadows stages the $10,000 McFadden Memorial for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
Derby hopefuls will have another chance to tune up in the March 22 Preview Stakes, also a $10,000 race at 1 1/16 miles. The Derby itself will be on April 13 at 1 1/8 miles, with a purse of $25,000.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne Race Course has entered into a multiyear agreement with Television Games Network that will make Hawthorne one of the network's featured tracks on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Hawthorne races also will be shown intermittently on its other live days, Friday through Sunday, although other racetracks will still have preference on those days.
Since The Racing Network went out of business in 2001, Hawthorne had not been carried on either TVG nor the new racing channel, Horse Racing Television.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Despite an initial inclination to limit admissions for the 2004 Kentucky Derby, officials at Churchill Downs now have decided they will exhaust all measures to "accommodate everyone who wants to come to the Derby next year," according to Churchill vice president David Sweazy.
The 2004 Derby, which track officials have billed the Demolition Derby, faces major logistical problems because of the massive restructuring of the track's grandstand and clubhouse.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Robledo, who emerged as a Triple Crown hopeful last month with his victory in the Turf Paradise Derby in Phoenix, may miss the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields next weekend because of a minor foot injury.
Friday, trainer Vladimir Cerin said that Robledo has suffered a cut on a heel. Robledo did not train on the racetrack Friday, and only walked at the barn.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sunday's $100,000 Suwannee River Handicap is an ending for Calista and Amonita, who are both headed to the breeding shed after the race. It could also be a beginning for Party Queen, who makes her stakes debut in the Grade 3 race.
Then again, the nine-furlong Suwannee River could be just another notch in the holster of Stay Forever, who has been on a roll since returning from a bowed tendon that sidelined her for 18 months.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The good looks of a racehorse do not guarantee victory, but when looks are combined with credentials as imposing as those of Crafty C.T., good things often follow.
Seven older horses will race seven furlongs Sunday in the Grade 1 San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita, and Crafty C.T. merits standout status against top-class late-runners Aldebaran and Grey Memo, front-runners Total Limit and Roman Dancer, and longshots Mellow Fellow and Shah Jehan. It is only March, the first start of the year for Crafty C.T., and a perfect time to erase a past-performance void.
