ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Art Sherman said he is "sitting in pretty good shape" as he awaits Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Brown Bess Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
Sherman will enter the Lindsay Jean in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
One reason for Sherman's optimism is the weather forecast.
"There's a prediction of rain Saturday, and that wouldn't hurt if they moved the race to the main track," Sherman said. "She'll run well on a hard, wet-fast track."
Coup of Corona and Teller Corona, two promising fillies by the top young sire Corona Cartel, go for their first stakes win in the $15,000 Santa Maria Handicap for 3-year-old fillies over 350 yards on Friday night at Los Alamitos.
Coup of Corona, owned by Celina and Corina Molina, comes off a strong showing in an allowance race Jan. 17 at Los Alamitos. In that 300-yard race she grabbed the early lead and then cruised to a 1 1/2-length win in an excellent 15.42 seconds.
Bob Bork, president of Sam Houston Race Park, has been named the Texas Thoroughbred Association's member of the year for his efforts to bring the inaugural Great State Challenge to Texas.
The series, which featured horses from around the country in six divisional stakes, was held last month, and handle on the program exceeded $5 million, a record for Sam Houston.
Lone Star Park, which does not open for live racing until April, will now offer to time workouts for publication every Monday and Tuesday through early March. The cost is $20 per horse per workout.
The service was made available after the owners of Squaw Creek Downs, a training center near Fort Worth, did not meet the Jan. 1 deadline to renew their license to conduct published works. With some north Texas horsemen left in the lurch, the Texas Horsemen's Partnership and Lone Star collaborated to fill a need.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - The improved purse structure at Sunland has meant better horses, and this is one reason why track records have been falling throughout the meet.
On Tuesday, the 5 1/2-furlong record, which had stood for 31 years, was broken by Treasure Hunt, a 7-year-old gelding who had been claimed at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meet last October for $25,000. Treasure Hunt ran poorly in a subsequent race at Hollywood, was given some time off, then was sent to trainer Martin Westin. He was making his first start here and running for a $25,000 claiming price on Tuesday.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If enough handicappers subscribe to the who-beat-who method, then Drexel Monorail will be the favorite in Thursday's $45,000 feature at Aqueduct, because she has already beaten six of her seven rivals in the second-level allowance sprint.
A 4-year-old Glitterman filly, Drexel Monorail returned from a short layoff on a thawing-out inner track earlier this month, and finished a close second despite bobbling at the start.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park is expected to begin its meet in earnest on Friday, with forecasters calling for sunny skies and a high of 60 degrees. Last week, a cold front left the track's racing surface frozen, and officials were forced to cancel the first three days of the season, from Jan. 24-26.
The lost days will not be made up, and the Oaklawn meet will now run 52 days, through April 12.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Two promising 3-year-olds have been sidelined and are doubtful for upcoming 3-year-old Kentucky Derby prep races at Santa Anita. Graded stakes placed Listen Indy came out of his fourth-place allowance comeback on Friday with a sore shin. Crackup bled profusely finishing fourth Jan. 18 in the Grade 2 Santa Catalina.
A potential Derby candidate who had finished third in the Grade 2 Norfolk Stakes last fall, the Richard Mandella-trained Listen Indy was bet to 2-1 Friday in his first start of the season. Listen Indy failed to get involved, losing by 11 lengths.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Holiday Runner's five-furlong, 59.40-second workout at Gulfstream Park on Tuesday morning was the best on the work tab, and it should set her up nicely for her stakes engagement this weekend.
But instead of going in the six-furlong Old Hat Stakes on Sunday as most would have expected, Holiday Runner will instead stretch out to 1 1/16 miles and try turf for the first time in Saturday's $100,000 Herecomesthebride Stakes.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - After Supervisor finished a fast-closing fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull Stakes, the logical assumption was that he would head straight to the Grade 1, 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth Stakes on Feb. 15.
Instead, trainer Manny Tortora has shifted gears, wheeling the versatile Supervisor back on the turf under first-level allowance conditions in one of the three allowance races that serve as co-features on Thursday's 10-race card at Gulfstream Park.