FORT ERIE, Ontario - For the third consecutive year, Fort Erie had significant gains at its 116-day meet, which ended Tuesday.
All-sources wagering reached $99,049,657, an average of $853,876 per day. Both figures were up 4.3 percent from last year's 116-day meet. Ontrack handle totaled $21,849,500, for an average of $188,357. Ontrack handle was up 1.5 percent from 2001.
Total purses distributed during the 116-day meet amounted to $21,873,400, a hike of 17 percent over the previous season.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kris Prather, the apprentice rider who early in 2001 led North American jockeys in victories, posted her first win since June when she won aboard Plino in the fourth race Wednesday at Churchill Downs.
Prather has been riding since August 2000 but still will be allowed to ride with a five-pound allowance for about six more weeks because of time she has missed with injuries. Her latest layoff was because of a pelvic injury suffered at Churchill on June 29, when she was kicked by a horse she had just ridden.
PORTLAND, Ore. - It seldom happens in racing that things unfold exactly the way one hopes.
But Sunday's six-furlong Diane Kem Handicap went just as it was scripted for owner-trainer Dick Occhiuto. Earlier in the week Occhiuto described the best- case scenario for his classy mare, Icicle Angel: "She wants to come into the lane with a couple of horses in front of her on the inside," he said. "That's the ideal situation for her."
Leo's Last Hurrahy, a two-time stakes winner, will lead the charge of Ken Murphy-owned starters Saturday night on Texas Champions Day at Sam Houston Race Park.
The rich card, made up of eight stakes for statebreds and one for open company, is worth a cumulative $625,000.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Riders Lyndon Hannigan and Randy Wilson are good examples of how tough and determined a jockey has to be.
Hannigan, 45, has been a regular here for the past seven or eight years and was enjoying his best season before a series of incidents sidelined him for at least eight weeks. Hannigan was first hurt when a horse flipped in the gate injuring his leg.
Manhattan Miner, an impressive winner against open allowance company in her return from a layoff last month at Philadelphia Park, is clearly the horse to beat in Friday night's $50,000 Blue Mountain Juvenile Stakes at Penn National.
A daughter of Miner's Mark trained by Robert Seegar, Manhattan Miner faces nine 2-year-old Pennsylvania-bred fillies in the six-furlong Blue Mountain. She earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 61 when she drew off to a 4 3/4-length victory in a seven-furlong race on Oct. 19.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Hurricane Hebe and Deviled Ham, both undefeated, pack a solid one-two punch for trainer Ray Stifano in Friday night's $70,000 Miss Indiana Stakes at six furlongs. Owned by the Circle S Ranch of Mari George, the coupled entry will take on eight other Indiana-bred 2-year-old fillies.
The Hawthorne main track's bias toward speed was never more evident than on Illinois Festival of Racing Day last Saturday. Six of the eight dirt races were won by horses who were on the lead, or within a half-length of it, after the opening quarter-mile. (One winner was disqualified.)
Less than 24 hours later, though, the main track was bias-free for Sunday's program. Only two of the nine winners led throughout, while the rest enjoyed midpack stalking trips or came from well off the pace.
A pair of horses who ran second in Grade 2 stakes earlier this fall are among eight older distance runners entered in Saturday night's $100,000 Mountaineer Mile at Mountaineer Park.
Generous Rosi, who finished a neck behind Tenpins in the Washington Park Handicap, a 1 3/16-mile race at Arlington Park in September, and Dash for Daylight, beaten three-quarters of a length in the six-furlong Forest Hills at Belmont Park in early October, are the most prominent names in the field.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - You know a trainer has attained icon status when he wins a race named for a horse he trained many years ago.
Bill Mott, the Hall of Fame trainer who began winning races in bunches at Churchill Downs in the early 1970's, will try to pull off such a feat twice this week.