Forty Dolls, who is undefeated in two career starts, will attempt to master two turns Sunday night in the $100,000 Green Oaks for 3-year-old Louisiana-bred fillies at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. Shane Sellers will come in from Fair Grounds for the mount.
The seven-furlong race has drawn 10, including Scottish Heritage, Rubies N Roses, and Letithappencaptain, the one-two-three finishers in the $50,000 Creme de la Creme at Delta on Jan. 18.
Testify, explosive winner of the $50,000 Turf Sprint at Sam Houston Race Park on Feb. 15, will make his next start around two turns in the $75,000 Mardi Gras on turf at Fair Grounds on March 4, said trainer Randy Morse.
It will be a rare two-turn appearance by Testify, who last spring won the Grade 3 Aegon, a turf sprint, at Churchill Downs.
"The first time I ever ran him on the grass was in New Orleans going seven and a half, actually," said Morse. "He got beat a head." Morse noted that the rider dropped his whip in that race.
The $3.53 million bet on the Connally Breeders' Cup Turf card at Sam Houston on Feb. 15 was the third-highest live handle at the track since it opened in 1994. The track's largest handle was in December, when a little more than $5 million was bet on the inaugural Great State Challenge.
That series of races helped boost business on the Connally card, according to Bob Bork, president of Sam Houston.
"It was part of the carryover from the Great State Challenge," said Bork. "With the exposure we received, people are very familiar with Sam Houston Race Park."
Lone Star Park plans to distribute about $240,000 to $245,000 a day in purses, with maiden special weight races worth $27,000.
Lone Star is constructing three new barns on the backstretch, which will open for both stabling and training on March 17.
Stall applications are due Wednesday.
* The Lone Star Park Charitable Foundation distributed $60,000 to 17 different charities in Grand Prairie last Thursday. This year, funds will be raised during three major events, including the NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship on June 20.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Though Saturday's $500,000 Donn Handicap lost its marquee horse when Lido Palace dropped out last week because of illness, it has become a much more intriguing betting race. While Harlan's Holiday, last year's Florida Derby winner, is a deserving Donn favorite, there are ample reasons to take a shot against him in Gulfstream Park's Grade 1, nine-furlong race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A field of 11 is set for Saturday's $500,000 Donn Handicap, although two prospective entrants were conspicuous by their absence when the race was drawn earlier this week.
The connections of Best of the Rest, winner of the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic, and his Calder-based rival The Judge Sez Who both passed on this Grade 1 opportunity. One wasn't entered by design, the other out of necessity.
Last weekend's snowstorms that forced the postponement of the two biggest stakes of the winter meet at Laurel Park are long gone. But Mother Nature could act like a gremlin again for Saturday's three-stakes program, highlighted by the rescheduled $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap.
Although the temperature is supposed to be in the 50's, the forecast also calls for the likelihood of rain, which means the eight fillies and mares in the Grade 2, seven-furlong Fritchie may have to deal with mud.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Spring Meadow did not start in the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap Jan. 25 because trainer Bob Hess Jr. did not want her in a tough field that included Affluent and Sightseek.
Instead, he pointed Spring Meadow to Saturday's $125,000 Las Flores Handicap at Santa Anita, a race that has drawn a strong field of fillies and mares.
Run at six furlongs, the Grade 3 Las Flores includes three stakes winners - September Secret, Secret Liaison, and Spring Meadow; stakes-placed Brisquette, Shameful, and Wild Tickle; and allowance race winner Mon Ange.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Wegota Slewzy is the one to beat when she takes on five other fillies and mares in Saturday's feature at Portland Meadows, an allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs.
Wegota Slewzy, a homebred daughter of Tip On Slew and stakes winner Wegota Ghost, will be shooting for her third straight score. She won by a length at six furlongs in a Jan. 4 allowance race, then repeated by six lengths in her most recent try, a Jan. 20 allowance, going six furlongs in a rapid 1:11.43.
