OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Gary Contessa is mapping out plans for Grey Comet and Unswept, the one-two finishers in last Sunday's Damon Runyon Stakes.
Contessa said he would like to keep the New York-breds separated, but intends to nominate both to the $75,000-added Count Fleet, an open stakes for 3-year-olds on Jan. 4.
Grey Comet, a 3 3/4-length winner of the Damon Runyon, is a likely starter for the Count Fleet, which will be run at the same mile and 70-yard distance as the Damon Runyon.
Remington Park in Oklahoma City, which faced an uncertain future earlier this year when Magna Entertainment considered closing the facility in 2003 because of a dates disagreement with horsemen, finished its Thoroughbred meet on Sunday with declines in average daily attendance and handle.
During the 71-day meet, attendance averaged 1,851, a 20-percent decrease from the same season a year ago, which ran 59 days. Handle on Remington's races averaged $408,964, a 17-percent decrease from 2001.
Purses also fell 14 percent this meet to a daily average of $80,830.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Both the riding and training titles will be decided at Beulah Park when the track concludes its 72-day fall meet on Sunday afternoon.
Through Tuesday, jockey Huber Villa-Gomez held a 55-53 advantage over Perry Ouzts in the rider standings despite having 76 fewer mounts than Ouzts. Villa-Gomez is in search of his first Beulah Park riding crown, while Ouzts has been a perennial leader both here and at River Downs over the past three decades.
Colorful Tour, the dominant Illinois-bred 3-year-old this year, will make one more start at Hawthorne, according to trainer Noel Hickey.
Colorful Tour is being pointed toward the $40,000 Chicago Six Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 1. The meet's closing-day feature, the Chicago Six will be Colorful Tour's first race in open company against older horses.
"After that we're sending him to Oaklawn," Hickey said.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Anybody for a match race? The probable field for Saturday's Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity continued to shrink on Tuesday morning, when trainer Bobby Frankel said Ghostzapper was unlikely to participate, and Bill Currin, the trainer and co-owner of Outta Here, decided to send his colt to Louisiana for a $500,000 race at Delta Downs.
NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana Champions Day Classic winner Walk in the Snow came out of his win Saturday "better than ever," trainer Herman Taylor said, but the best older Louisiana-bred in training won't race again until early March.
"I don't know if he needs a break or not, but he's going to get one," Taylor said. "There's nothing for him until then."
The decision to increase the purse for the Delta Princess from $100,000 to $250,000 has yielded a diverse field of eight 2-year-old fillies. None have won a graded stakes but four are stakes winners. The one-mile race will be run Friday night at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.
Approximate post time for the Delta Princess, which serves as a prelude to Saturday night's inaugural $500,000 Delta Jackpot for 2-year-olds, is 10:05 p.m. Central.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - Tampa Bay Downs, which had its scheduled opening weekend washed out, finally began its 2002-2003 racing season under blue skies Tuesday.
A crowd of 2,449 was on hand for the 11-race opening-day program, wagering $251,692 at the track. The all-sources handle on the card totaled $2,507,874.
The crowd saw Awesome of Course, making his first start since finishing fourth in the Saratoga Special last summer, survive a long stretch duel and claim of foul to post a length victory in the $50,000 Inaugural Stakes.