NEW ORLEANS - In the heyday of the 1990's, races at Fair Grounds used to fill themselves. By 11 a.m., the entry box would bulge, a day's races would be drawn - at lunchtime.
Not last year. At times, Fair Grounds racing officials struggled to cobble together bettable programs. Field size was down, and with it handle. This year, the track feels some urgency to make more out of the available horse population, and with that in mind there have been serious changes in the racing office.
The fields for the six races that will make up the inaugural running of the Great State Challenge at Sam Houston Race Park Dec. 7 are taking shape, with horsemen starting to respond to invitations that were sent out Monday.
The final draw for the card, which matches statebreds from 11 states, will be Dec. 4. Each race is worth up to $275,000.
Take Charge Lady, set to run Thursday at Churchill Downs in the Falls City, is expected to run in the Distaff. Top horses considered definite for the Distaff are Two Item Limit and With Ability.
AUBURN, Wash. - The Muckleshoot American Indian tribe has purchased the land upon which Emerald Downs sits. The tribe operates Washington's largest casino, just a few miles from Emerald Downs in Auburn.
The tribe announced Tuesday that it had purchased the 157-acre site from LaTerra Limited Partnership, which is headed by Mario Segale, an investor in Emerald, for an undisclosed sum. Emerald Downs holds a 60-year lease on the property, so the sale is not expected to affect horse racing, at least in the short term.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Christophe Clement sends so many turf runners to California he ought to keep a permanent stable here. Most of his hit-and-runs lately have been with Voodoo Dancer, but the trainer has sent west another filly from his
powerful stable for Thursday's $70,000-added Waya Handicap at Hollywood Park.
Clement's filly Julie Jalouse was assigned top weight of 119 pounds for the Waya, the feature on a Thanksgiving Day card that begins at 11 a.m. Pacific. The eight-race program should end by 2:30 p.m., giving fans plenty of time to get home to stuff themselves.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Howard Zucker is looking forward to more than a Thanksgiving get-together with his sister Joan this week in New York. For the second time this year, Zucker has made the cross-country trek to his native state in hopes of winning a Grade 1 race.
In May, Zucker brought Crafty C.T. to Belmont Park for the Metropolitan Handicap, where he finished third, 6 1/4 lengths behind Swept Overboard. Saturday, Zucker and Crafty C.T. will be back to contest the $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, the last Grade 1 of the year in New York.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Auntie Em, Toto, it's a twister.
Wicked Santa Ana winds came howling out of the north Monday night and into Tuesday morning, knocking down power lines and trees, and sparking small brush fires, throughout Southern California. Although there was no significant damage at either Santa Anita or Hollywood Park, the horses were spooked by the wind and resulting debris, and producers of the movie "Seabiscuit" had to make adjustments at Santa Anita.
ALBANY, Calif. - The word "potential" is the bane of athletes. It's a label that the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained 3-year-old Metatron has carried with him since he won his debut.
Metatron has won 3 of 9 starts, and has finished off the board only once, in his last race, a sprint stakes against older horses. He has earned $186,720, cheated death, and come back from an operation for chips in his knee.
But the "P" word clouds everything Metatron has accomplished.
NEW ORLEANS - An hour past the end of training Saturday, one of Steve Asmussen's top assistants stood in a stall with a low-level claiming filly, trimming her coat with a pair of electric clippers.
Across the backstretch, the sound of clippers also whirred in trainer Tom Amoss's shed row, but they were being operated by someone from Warren's Clipping Service.
Maybe there's something in the difference that says a lot about how these two stables work. "Or maybe we're just cheap," Asmussen said Monday morning.
MIAMI - Cornelio Velasquez had gone three straight days without winning a race heading into Sunday's program - a colossal slump for a rider who has won the last three jockey titles at Calder.
Velasquez then went out and ended the drought in high style, winning six races on Sunday's program. Five of the victories came in succession and they included Maliziosa's win in the Opera Diva Stakes for trainer Bill Mott.
"It's a funny game," said Velasquez, who came back to win two races on Monday. "I go three days without winning anything and then I win six in one day."
Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale, whose Truckle Feature could go favored in the inaugural running of the $275,000 Great State Challenge Juvenile at Sam Houston Race Park on Dec. 7, is taking a more laid back approach to racing these days.
McIngvale, known for an aggressive, hands-on style of ownership in the past, has chosen to sit chilly of late and put his stable's future in the hands of people like trainer Bob Baffert and bloodstock agents J.B. and Kevin McKathan.