NEW ORLEANS - Not many trainers willingly part with the star of their stable. But the last two winters, Chris Block has waved a fond farewell to Mystery Giver, sending him into the Fair Grounds barn of Richie Scherer.
Block's choice is easier to make because there's no question he will get his horse back when the winter ends. Mystery Giver was bred by Block's parents, David and Patricia, and is owned by a Block family partnership.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Its top 3-year-old, Added Edge, knocked off the Triple Crown trail due to injury, Team Valor Stables hopes to keep its Kentucky Derby dream alive with Colita.
Team Valor purchased a half-interest in Colita following a 3 1/4-length maiden victory at Aqueduct going six furlongs on Jan. 5. Fifteen days later, Colita successfully stretched out to a mile and 70 yards, winning an entry-level allowance race by 1 3/4 lengths. Colita, trained by Carlos Morales, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 94 for the effort.
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Siberland has been unchallenged and untested in two races at Turf Paradise, and unless something strange happens, look for the same scenario Saturday when he goes off an overwhelming favorite in the $100,000 Turf Paradise Derby.
The meet's premier race for 3-year-olds, the derby is the first leg of a stakes tripleheader on Turf Paradise's biggest day of the meet. The Derby is race six on the nine-race card, followed by the $150,000 Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup and the $75,000 Arizona Oaks.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When Richard Schosberg put up $50,000 to claim Literary Light on Sept. 28, he was simply looking for a useful horse to get a new client started.
Schosberg and owner Michael Tau may have gotten more than they bargained for, as Literary Light has a good chance to become a stakes winner in Saturday's $75,000 Correction Handicap at Aqueduct. The Correction, run at a six furlongs, drew a competitive field of 10.
A mix of some of the best Louisiana-bred sprinters and routers will meet Saturday night in the $75,000 Bayou State, a seven-furlong race to be run around two turns at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.
The race should produce starters for the track's $150,000 Gold Cup for statebreds on March 2.
Since she first tried the distance in early December of last year, Boxer Girl has won both her starts at seven furlongs by a combined margin of eight lengths. The 89 Beyer Speed Figure that she earned in her most recent win on Jan. 9 is easily the best number among the eight other Maryland-bred 3-year-old fillies she faces in Saturday's $60,000 Jameela Stakes at Laurel Park.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Last year as a 3-year-old at Oaklawn Park, Cojet was a horse obsessed with speed. A one-dimensional front-runner, he could not wait for the gate to open so he could go.
But this year, Cojet comes into the meet a more mature, relaxed colt, and is the one to beat in Saturday's $50,000 King Cotton, a six-furlong race that has also drawn a comebacking Beau's Town, who is undefeated at Oaklawn.
EAST BOSTON, MASS. - There's a bug buzz in Boston again.
Suffolk Downs has often been the launchpad for apprentice careers, and Mark Phillips appears to have the talent to be the latest to cut his teeth on New England racing.
A 17-year-old native of Dublin, Ireland, Phillips has been racing for just six months in the United States after two years of schooling in riding academies and at The Curragh back home.
Mostly because Perfect Drift was such a well-regarded contender during the Triple Crown chase last year, one of his prep races has become something of a comic curiosity among handicappers: the WEBN Frog Stakes. Never before, it was widely noted, had a Kentucky Derby winner won the Frog Stakes - or perhaps any other race with such an odd name, either.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Welcome to Oaklawn Park, take 2.
A week after winter temperatures left the local racing surface frozen and forced the cancellation of the first three days of the meet, Oaklawn is set to begin on Friday a 52-day meet that will run through April 12.
Temperatures should be agreeable, with forecasters calling for partly cloudy skies and a high of 60 degrees.
