HOUSTON - Trainer Steve Asmussen has had some big statebred days in Texas, and he looks to be sitting on another one Saturday at Sam Houston Race Park. Only this time, some of the horses he will start were bred in Kentucky, among them Souris, who should go favored in the $275,000 Great State Challenge Juvenile Fillies.
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DRF Past Performances
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Kent Molinaro was confident going into the Albany Handicap on Nov. 9.
His late-running Profound Secret was coming off two straight victories and found a field filled with speed.
Two steps out of the starting gate, it was clear there was something wrong with Profound Secret, and jockey Joey Castro was doing everything he could to slow down the powerful 8-year-old horse. Molinaro's confidence turned to concern.
Sunland Park, N.M. - Saturday's $50,000-added Sunland Park Yuletide Derby at 6 1/2 furlongs would have a well-balanced field if not for one horse, multiple stakes winner Premeditation.
Owned by William Clifton Jr. and trained by Bill Leach, Premeditation sports a 8-2-1-1 record and $161,557 in earnings on the year, including victories here this spring in the Borderland Derby and at Lone Star in the $100,000 Alysheba Breeder's Cup. Cementing his role of favorite is that he will be ridden by leading jockey Garrett Gomez.
PHOENIX - Lamartinique finished sixth last time out but lost by less than a length. It was the sixth straight time Lamartinique has performed well, and that consistency makes him the likely favorite in a field of 10 in the feature race at Turf Paradise on Saturday.
A one-mile turf allowance race with a purse of $13,400, the race takes the place of the Cactus Wren Handicap, which had been scheduled as the Saturday feature but failed to attract enough entries.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - The two best 2-year-old Massachusetts-breds will finally meet when Mr. Meso faces the filly Jill's Layup in Saturday's $30,000 Norman Hall Stakes at Suffolk Downs.
The accomplishments of Mr. Meso and Jill's Layup indicates significant progress for the Massachusetts breeding program as both won major juvenile stakes races here against open company. Mr. Meso won the DeSpirito Stakes against colts. Jill's Layup won the Mom's Command Stakes against fillies.
Fresh off a strong showing in the Illinois Coronet Handicap against older Illinois-breds four weeks ago, Colorful Tour will be a heavy favorite Saturday at Haw-thorne against statebred 3-year-olds in the $40,000-added Demetri's Boy Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
Colorful Tour has had a relatively light campaign of seven starts this year, but a glance at his company lines shows that his season has hardly been easy.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Many of Kentucky's best mares have already gone south for the winter to warm-weather tracks such as Gulfstream Park in Florida and Fair Grounds in Louisiana. Yet some top mares still remain, and a sampling of those will race in Saturday's $50,000 Holiday Inaugural Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
ALBANY, Calif. - Win or lose, the 10-year-old gelding Today a Star could always be counted on to give his best on the racetrack. And because he has so much heart, he became one of northern California's most popular horses.
The will and determination that made Today a Star special on the track may have helped save his life after he suffered a condylar fracture of his right foreleg while pulling up from a four-furlong work on July 19. The fracture was so bad that bone protruded through the skin of the leg.
HOUSTON - When the fields for the inaugural Great State Challenge were drawn on Wednesday, only 49 of the 84 horses invited to compete in the six-race series were entered. The Juvenile and Turf drew the largest fields, with 10 entrants each, while the Distaff and Classic attracted the smallest, with six each.
Overall, 10 states will be represented in the series, which is to be held at Sam Houston Race Park on Saturday. Kentucky has the most horses in the Great State Challenge with 11, followed by Texas and Maryland with eight. All of the races are worth $275,000.