NEW ORLEANS - Early Friday morning Mountain General was putting the finishing touches on his preparations for Sunday's Taylor's Special Handicap. Thunder rumbled ominously, and then the skies opened. Mountain General tried to do what any sensible animal does in a heavy storm - head for cover.
"We got stuck out on the racetrack in the rain with him," said trainer Steve Asmussen. "I don't like his chances in a downpour. He didn't want to go. It wasn't pretty."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - An extra week between starts can be viewed as a positive for Say Florida Sandy, a 9-year-old who usually benefits from his races being spaced. The negative is that the $75,000-added Hollie Hughes Handicap is rescheduled for Sunday, and heavy rain is expected for the first portion of the weekend and Say Florida Sandy doesn't care for wet tracks.
Say Florida Sandy's trainer, Victor Cuadra, said he would scratch the 122-pound highweight if the track is wet.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After training was disrupted because of a blizzard on Monday, and with heavy rain expected for the first part of the weekend, many horsemen took advantage of the clear and mild weather on Friday to work their horses at Belmont Park and Aqueduct.
Between the two tracks, a total of 293 horses flooded the work tab.
Among the Belmont-based horses preparing for future stakes engagements were Roar Emotion and Snake Mountain.
Delaware Park's two most prestigious stakes will get significant purse boosts this season.
The Delaware Handicap at 1 1/4 miles for fillies and mares, which will be run for the 66th time on July 20, has been upgraded to Grade 2 status and will now be worth $750,000, an increase of $150,000.
The purse for the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks for 3-year-old fillies has been doubled to $500,000.
Those two stakes are the centerpieces the Delaware Handicap Festival of Racing weekend, July 19-20, in which the track will run six stakes worth approximately $1.85 million.
ALBANY, Calif. - A freshened Bold Mango takes on six rivals in Sunday's feature at Golden Gate fields, a $100,000 optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles. The race is one of two interesting turf races on the card.
Bold Mango has a win, three seconds, and a third in six turf starts. He has had a brief freshener since he rallied strongly for third behind Cappucino Kid and Surprized in a similar race on a muddy main track on Jan. 11. He found himself farther back than usual early in that race.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Sue Douglas loves to rehabilitate horses.
Douglas, who is working as a groom for trainer Gene Davis at Portland Meadows, enjoys the challenge of taking an old gelding whom others have given up on, nursing him back to health and racing fitness, then trying to get him to the winner's circle.
The Grade 3, $100,000 Manitoba Derby, the richest race and only graded stakes of the meeting, heads a slightly revamped stakes schedule at Winnipeg's Assiniboia Downs this year.
There are 32 stakes this year, fewer than last year, but the total value of $1.2 million is up from last year.
The Victoria Day and G. Sydney Halter, which had been run in May, have been dropped from the calendar.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Cindy Noll, the all-time winningest female rider at Oaklawn Park who missed the first three weeks of the meet to spend more time with her children, returned to riding here Friday.
She finished eighth in the sixth race with 10-1 shot Upsy Daisy for trainer Jack Waldie. The mount was Noll's first since the Hoosier Park meet ended in November.
"I thought the kids were doing very, very well, and I was getting itchy to get back to work," said Noll. "I do need to get ready for Iowa."
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.