ARCADIA, Calif. - Hot Market would have been one of the leading contenders in the inaugural Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25, but will miss the race and the next several months because of surgery on Tuesday to remove a bone chip from his left knee, trainer Craig Lewis said Thursday morning at Santa Anita.
"It's a shame, because I do think he could beat those horses, but what can you do?" Lewis said.
ALBANY, Calif. - When a field of 10 maiden 2-year-old fillies took the track at Bay Meadows Oct. 20, who would have thought that the best juvenile race of the year in northern California was about to be run?
Watch Out World and Denali Cat, who finished one-two in that race, meet again as top contenders seeking their initial stakes victory in Saturday's $60,000-added Miss California Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. Tavy's Plan, the fourth-place finisher, is also entered in the six-furlong Miss California.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's $125,000-added Pepsi Cola Handicap at six furlongs has attracted 12 New Mexico-bred 3-year-olds. This division was last assembled in the Red Hedeman Mile on Nov. 30, a race in which several key contenders had bad racing luck.
Tornados Jack won the Hedeman. He settled far back early and was the only horse still running hard at the end, with most of his rivals finishing tired. Tornados Jack is versatile, with some solid sprint credentials, and will likely attract much of the betting action.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jimmy Jerkens isn't sure what the outcome of Saturday's $100,000 Aqueduct Handicap will be if Voodoo has the lead in midstretch and Snake Mountain is the one trying to run him down.
"Snake Mountain is pretty relentless,'' said Jerkens, the trainer of both 5-year-old horses. "But, Voodoo, when he has the lead, he'll fight a lot harder than he will if he has to run one down. You'd have to be awful lucky to have it come to that.''
Officially, the eighth race on Laurel Park's Saturday program is the What a Summer Stakes. In reality, it's a paid workout for the sensational female sprinter Xtra Heat.
Xtra Heat, who was not expected to make her 5-year-old debut until the $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap on Feb. 15, surprisingly showed up in the entries for the What a Summer, a six-furlong race with a purse of only $60,000. It will be the smallest purse Xtra Heat has competed for since she won the $36,000 Arctic Cloud at Pimlico in June 2001.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - If the initial response from the horsemen is any indication, Magna Entertainment Corp.'s inaugural Sunshine Millions on Jan. 25 should be a success.
Pre-entries for the eight Sunshine Millions races, all of which are restricted to Florida- and California-breds, closed Wednesday with 142 horses named, including 23 for the $1 million Sunshine Classic. The 1 1/8-mile Classic is the richest race of the day and the main event on the Gulfstream Park program that also includes the $350,000 Filly and Mare Turf, $250,000 Filly and Mare Sprint, and $250,000 Dash.
First Regards, named 2002 champion 3-year-old filly on Wednesday, will face a stern test when she goes up against three finalists for the 2002 champion aged mare award - Corona Kool, Dinastia Toll, and Running Bac - in the Grade 1, $125,000 Charger Bar Handicap over 400 yards on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - It is ridiculously cold in Boston right now, but Suffolk Downs management and horsemen are already thinking about spring and summer with the announcement that the James B. Moseley Handicap will move with the Massachusetts Handicap to June 14 and will get a purse boost to $200,000.
Track officials announced earlier this week that they would move the Mass Cap - Suffolk's premier race - two weeks later than the originally scheduled May 31 to become part of the NTRA Summer Racing Tour on CBS television.
Kool K.J., who defeated some of the best Louisiana-bred fillies in training by five lengths last out in the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Lassie, will face two new challenges in the $50,000 Creme De La Creme at Delta Downs on Saturday night: two turns and the undefeated Letithappencaptain.
The Creme De La Creme, a 6 1/2-furlong race around two turns, has drawn a field of eight 3-year-old statebred fillies, and should produce starters for the $100,000 Green Oaks Handicap at Delta on Feb. 23.