ARCADIA, Calif. - Something will have to change for one of the three leading contenders to find the winner's circle in Sunday's $100,000 Sensational Star Handicap at Santa Anita.
Spinelessjellyfish, the 119-pound highweight, has not won in 16 months, a span of 13 races.
Turkish Prize won the California Cup Mile last November, but has been racing in the last year at distances farther than about 6 1/2 furlongs, the trip on the downhill course for the Sensational Star.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Continental Red, who spent most of 2002 racing on turf before winning the Great State Challenge Classic in Texas on the main track last month, will stay on dirt for the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25.
Owners Wes and Sharon Fitzpatrick and trainer Ian Jory have chosen the Classic over the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita the same day.
"How many times do you have a chance to go for $1 million?" trainer Ian Jory said. "He's done nothing wrong on the dirt."
ALBANY, Calif. - Something perhaps even more important than purse money is on the line for five of the six older California-bred fillies and mares entered in Sunday's $100,000 Work the Crowd Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.
Each could earn the first black type (victory or placing in a stakes race) of their careers.
Bob's Lady, the 116-pound highweight in the one-mile race, is the only member of the field with black type, acquired by winning the CTBA Marian Stakes at Fairplex last fall.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - His resume would be the envy of almost any jockey in the country. A list of accomplishments that includes seven Breeders' Cup victories, four national money titles, countless riding championships and an Eclipse Award as the nation's best jockey in 1988.
But for all those accomplishments, Jose Santos's career appeared to be at a crossroads midway through the 2002 Gulfstream Park meeting as he struggled to win races and hold on to even some of his most loyal clients.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When Tom's Thunder won last Sunday's Alex M. Robb Handicap at Aqueduct, he was owner Michael Dubb's first stakes winner.
"I'm one for one in stakes; I have to quit now," Dubb joked.
What is no joke is how well Dubb, who became an owner of Thoroughbreds 18 months ago, has been doing with horses he and trainer Pat Reynolds have acquired through the claim box.
Dubb claimed Tom's Thunder for $75,000 off of trainer Scott Lake and owner Richard Englander on Dec. 1 and won the restricted Alex M. Robb with the gelding 28 days later.
PORTLAND, Ore. - An Naabi will seek a fourth straight victory at Portland Meadows on Sunday when he heads a field of seven older sprinters, each eligible to be claimed for $10,000, in the six-furlong feature race.
The feature will go as the ninth of 11 live races that have lured a total of 116 entrants. The first race goes at 1 p.m.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Saturday's $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita attracted a field befitting a race that leads to the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 1.
Of the 11 entrants, several appear win candidates, but the most logical is Congaree, the flashy winner of the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct Nov. 30. Congaree, third in the 2001 Kentucky Derby, will not have a free pass in the San Pasqual Handicap, run at 1 1/16 miles. He will likely have to catch Hot Market, who can carry his speed over the San Pasqual distance.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Alex Solis walked through the Santa Anita stable area beaming on Thursday morning.
"I'm undefeated this year," he shouted to a friend.
Considering the week that Solis just experienced, the enthusiasm was understandable.
On Saturday, after winning the La Brea Stakes on Got Koko, Solis was involved in a frightening one-horse spill that left him hospitalized overnight with a concussion.
