OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Del Carroll believes there was more than one injustice during Breeders' Cup weekend in Chicago.
On the day before the Breeders' Cup - and the now infamous pick six scandal - Carroll sent out Tap the Admiral in the $100,000 John Henry Handicap at Arlington Park. Though Tap the Admiral finished first, he was disqualified for alleged interference in the stretch with Riddlestown. The call was questioned by many observers who felt that Riddlestown initiated the contact.
HOUSTON - Leo's Last Hurrahy, who successfully mastered two turns Saturday night with a convincing win against open company in the $150,000 Sam Houston Texan Juvenile, will skip the inaugural running of the $275,000 Great State Challenge Juvenile at Sam Houston on Dec. 7. Instead, Leo's Last Hurrahy will be freshened for a 3-year-old campaign at Fair Grounds that his connections hope will include the Grade 2, $750,000 Louisiana Derby on March 9.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - John T. Ward Jr. did not necessarily expect Booklet to win the feature race Tuesday at Churchill Downs. After all, "you can only train a horse so much" following a six-month layoff, said Ward.
So after Booklet led most of the way to win the $52,025 feature, Ward and his wife, Donna, were all smiles. Booklet, ridden by Pat Day, dug in to turn back Dash for Daylight, then Rock Slide, to prevail in his first start since finishing 12th in the May 18 Preakness. He paid $4.20 as favorite.
"I liked the way he pinned his ears," said Donna Ward.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Roger Attfield, currently the top trainer in money won here this year, has his sights set on cracking the $4 million mark at the meet.
Attfield, who was just a bit more than $100,000 shy of the goal heading into Wednesday's program, seems a pretty safe bet to reach that plateau.
But, he will have to do so without the help of Kabeeb, who would have been the one to beat here in Sunday's $150,000 Ontario Lassie, a 1 1/16-mile race for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Rafael Becerra aims for an unlikely stakes double Saturday at Hollywood Park with a 2-year-old sprinter and a 4-year-old turf runner. Roll Hennessy Roll, whose first three starts were in New Mexico, is a leading contender in the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue at seven furlongs. Special Matter, a former $12,500 claimer who won a Grade 3 race, runs 1 1/2 miles in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - What do you do with a 4-year-old turf filly who was 0 for 8 and running out of chances?
"I thought I had a good $40,000 or $50,000 filly on turf, but I needed to break her maiden to get her on grass," said trainer Mike Mitchell. It was a problem with a simple solution.
Mitchell ran Bush Triumph in a dreadful field of $25,000 maiden claimers. She won by 3 1/2 lengths, and gained much-needed confidence. By the time Bush Triumph was ready to run again, the season was nearly over. No problem.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Horseplayers frequently say they don't mind a little slip in quality, if only the quantity is there.
Loose translation: Full fields are fantastic, as long as you don't scrape the bottom of the barrel. If that's so, then horseplayers won't want to miss the nine-race Thursday card at Churchill Downs, where only one race drew fewer than 10 starters and the average field size, counting also-eligibles, is 12.
ALBANY, Calif. - If it's true that winning builds confidence in horses, it follows that losing erodes it.
And that's why Thursday's feature at Golden Gate Fields takes on extra significance for trainers Armando Lage and Jim Hilling.
Lage has entered Chic Domestique in the $40,000 optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on the turf. Hilling has entered Doc's Lil Angel. Both fillies come off poor stakes tries on the dirt but return to their favorite surface Thursday.
MIAMI - While it may take the Florida Million a while to catch on among horsemen, Calder's newest multi-stakes day program should have been an instant hit with fans Saturday after exciting finishes in four of the six stakes races.
The $200,000 Elmer Heubeck Distaff Handicap may have provided the most drama. Coolbythepool won, rallying from far back to outfinish 26-1 Sara's Success by a neck, with Cellars Shiraz, the only 3-year-old in the field, a neck behind in third.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If all goes well next spring, Toccet will have to run three races in five weeks at three different racetracks. If all goes as planned, it will not be the first time he will attempt that difficult task.
Having bounced out of his 6 1/4-length victory in Saturday's $100,000 Laurel Futurity so well, Toccet is now being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Nov. 30.
"He came out of the race fine," trainer John Scanlan
