MIAMI - Any conversation about Calder's $200,000 La Prevoyante Handicap usually begins with trainer Christophe Clement, who has won the race four times. Clement has a strong chance to make it five wins when he saddles Mot Juste and uncoupled stablemate Julie Jalouse in Saturday's 28th running of the Grade 2 stakes.
Clement has already won the La Prevoyante with Sardaniya (1992), Trampoli (1993), and twice with Coretta (1998-99).
MIAMI - Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. takes a third shot with Best of the Rest in the $100,000 Fred Hooper Jr. Handicap, Saturday at Calder.
Best of the Rest was beaten as the odds-on favorite in two of the last three runnings of the 1 1/8-mile Hooper and is likely to start as the public's choice again Saturday, with jockey Jerry Bailey taking the call.
"Fred is sure making it difficult for me to win the race they named in his honor," Plesa said, referring to Hall of Fame owner-breeder Fred Hooper, for whom both he and his father, Eddie Plesa Sr., trained for many years.
ALBANY, Calif. - Three sprint stakes winners head a field of six 2-year-old fillies in Saturday's $60,000-added Corte Madera Stakes at one mile at Golden Gate Fields.
Saturday's race will be the first around two turns for each of the three stakes winners - Magic Smoke, winner of the Cinderella at 5 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park on June 2; Tale of a Dream, winner of the 5 1/2-furlong Courtship Stakes at Bay Meadows on Sept. 15; and Viansa Ossidiana, winner of the six-furlong Time to Leave Stakes at Bay Meadows on Oct. 13.
Tommie Morgan, who has trained the a number of 2-year-old stakes winners in this region, has the top contenders in both divisions of the $125,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
The one-mile races are split into two divisions, one for colts and geldings and one for fillies. Both are restricted to 2-year-olds by stallions nominated to the Texas Stallion Stakes Series.
Call Me Lefty is the one to beat in the male division, based on his 10-length win at a mile last out in a conditioned allowance at Sam Houston. It was his first start around two turns.
They could be called confirmed sprinters. Most of the 10 fillies in the inaugural running of the $40,000 Genesis Stakes at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., are turning back in distance to five furlongs at a time when a number of their peers are starting to experiment with more ground.
At first glance, Golden Marlin appears to be making a class hike with a move from an allowance race into Saturday's $50,000 Gowell Stakes at Turfway Park. In fact, she is making a class drop.
Though she faces 11 opponents - including stakes winners Jenny's Prospector and Indy Fire - none is of the quality of the allowance foes she raced against last month at Churchill Downs. Competing in an entry-level allowance, Golden Marlin rallied to finish a distant third behind Lady Tak and Perfect Story, two gifted 2-year-old fillies.
NEW ORLEANS - Allspice started her career running long, but since her debut has raced at progressively shorter distances, a trend that will continue next Saturday in the Thelma Stakes. At this rate, she'll be running with Quarter Horses by summer.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The year is about to end, but trainer Bob Barbara is just getting started.
Through the first three weeks of Aqueduct's inner-track meet, Barbara has five wins and two seconds from nine starts. His five wins equal the most he's had for any single New York Racing Association meet this year. During the 2001-02 inner-track meet, Barbara was just 3 for 43.
Streakin Sin Tacha, the eighth-place finisher in the Grade 1, $500,000 Champion of Champions on Dec. 14, will try to rebound Saturday in the Grade 1, $350,000 The Championship at Sunland Park.
The 400-yard Championship at Sunland Park brings together older horses who have won or placed in graded stakes this year.
Before his defeat in the Champion of Champions, Streakin Sin Tacha raced to consecutive wins in the Grade 1 MBNA America Texas Challenge Championship, the Grade 2 Sam Houston Classic, and the Grade 1 MBNA America Challenge Championship.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct canceled its Thursday card after jockeys told management the inner track was unsafe. It was the third cancellation this month.
The $100,000 Gravesend Handicap, originally carded for Thursday, will be re-drawn and run on Sunday as part of a 10-race card. Aqueduct, which has not run since last Saturday, will also conduct 10 races this Saturday and, most likely, on New Year's Day, too.