ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It wouldn't seem likely that a young trainer embarking on his first full campaign here could look down his shed row and nod at a reigning Queen's Plate champion.
But that's exactly the situation of Ross Armata Jr., who has taken over from his uncle, Vito Armata, as the trainer of 2002 Queen's Plate winner T J's Lucky Moon.
From King Maple to Gandria, the Donald "D.G." McClelland era in Canadian horse racing and breeding was long and successful.
Another Woodbine season is beginning this weekend, but the local industry lost one of its most influential members when McClelland died in January at the age of 82.
In a half-century of raising his own Thoroughbreds, McClelland, with the help of his family, bred dozens of stakes winners at his Farm on a Hill in King City, Ontario.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Six weeks and counting - and doesn't everyone with a Kentucky Derby contender know it.
The connections of the nine horses that will clash Saturday in the $500,000 Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park are keenly aware that the 129th Derby will be run May 3 at Churchill Downs. They also are aware that whichever horse is good enough to win here Saturday will most likely will have earned a ticket to Louisville.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Every year, Turfway Park officials cross their fingers in the hope that a so-called big-name starter will lend credibility to its signature race, which, after years of name-changing, has settled into being called the Lane's End Stakes this year.
FLORENCE, Ky. - The 25-year remembrances begin Saturday for Steve Cauthen. As the last jockey to win the Triple Crown - on Affirmed in 1978 - Cauthen likely will be the toast of quite a few tributes this year.
Besides giving away Cauthen bobblehead dolls with the first 7,000 paid admissions Saturday, Turfway has planned a formal winner's circle ceremony during Saturday's Lane's End program to recognize Cauthen and the 25-year anniversary of the last Triple Crown.
FLORENCE, Ky. - Six months ago trainer Pat Byrne arrived at Turfway Park hoping that Private Gold would step forward as one of the better horses in his class.
But after Vindication, the eventual 2-year-old champion, drubbed Private Gold and a handful of others on a September afternoon in the Kentucky Cup Juvenile, Byrne decided it was time to set his sights a little lower. Since then, Private Gold has competed in less conspicuous races, doing okay while trying to knock out a decent living.
"He kind of didn't pan out, at least not yet," said Byrne.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Roar Emotion demonstrated enough talent last year to make one believe she could be a factor in the 3-year-old filly division this year. But that doesn't mean it's advisable to take a short price on her in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct.
At 2, Roar Emotion won her maiden by 10 1/2 lengths and overcame a six-week layoff to win the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes. Between those races, however, she was beaten as the 1-9 favorite in an entry-level allowance race, though her connections said she flipped her palate in that race.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer John McCaslin said he anticipates trying Run for Joy in graded stakes company at some point this year. Since an allowance race at Penn National didn't fill for Saturday, that time could be Sunday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Next Move Handicap at Aqueduct.
Run for Joy, a 7-year-old daughter of Geiger Counter, has won 10 of 15 starts for McCaslin and owner Eric Fral since they claimed her for $40,000 in January 2000. She has won her last four starts by open lengths, though three of them have come in allowance company at Penn National.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Most winners of the one-mile San Rafael Stakes each March are considered candidates for the Santa Anita Derby a month later.
Rojo Toro, winner of this year's San Rafael Stakes on March 1, is being campaigned with an opposite approach. Saturday, Rojo Toro will attempt to stretch his unbeaten streak to four in the $75,000 San Pedro Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Hal Earnhardt, Rojo Toro is not considered a Kentucky Derby candidate, but a sprinter who ran a game race to win the San Rafael
ALBANY, Calif. - Cappuchino and El Dorado Shooter head the field for Saturday's $60,000-added Danville Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
El Dorado Shooter, who won this race in 2001, comes off a game victory in the Ken Maddy Sprint on Feb. 22, in which he survived a duel with Giovannetti and won. He drew the outside 6 post for Saturday's six-furlong race.
El Dorado Shooter's status was actually to be determined Friday by the results of a blood test.
