ARCADIA, Calif. - What is racing coming to, anyway? For one glorious day each autumn at Santa Anita, the answer is encouraging.
The 13th California Cup, highlight of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita, is offered Saturday in a celebration of California racing that has become the blueprint for statebred racing festivals. It's a party, with 10 races for Cal-breds with purses of more than $1.3 million, full and competitive fields, and something for every bettor and every horseman.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sure, winning for the first time in more than a year was great. But for Shane Sellers, the mundane aspects of being a jockey again are the greatest joys of his latest comeback.
"Just being back in the jocks' room with all the guys, that's special," said Sellers. "It's what I've done my whole life, and it's what I missed the most when I was gone."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It didn't take very long for David Forster to get the attention of Kentucky racing fans.
Forster, who had never raced in Kentucky after a training career of more than 40 years in the West, sent out Youcan'ttakeme to win an allowance race on the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup undercard at Keeneland Oct. 12.
Now Forster is back for more, although this time at Churchill Downs. Youcan'ttakeme is one of eight 2-year-old fillies entered in the Saturday feature, the $100,000 Pocahontas Stakes.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - In most years, Mobil would lock up Canadian champion juvenile honors with a win in Saturday's Coronation Futurity, an important nine-furlong race for Canadian-breds.
But because of the triumphs of his high-profile stablemate Wando and the unbeaten Added Edge, it will probably take a Herculean effort for him to have a chance at the Sovereign award.
CHICAGO - Mystery Giver made his first start a year and a half ago at Hawthorne. Last fall, he turned a corner winning the Autobot Stakes there. Mystery Giver will be at another crossroads at Hawthorne on Saturday when he faces nine opponents in the Robert Carey Memorial.
A strong performance would build on Mystery Giver's recent win in the $100,000 Sea O' Erin at Arlington, and would send him south for the winter with a full head of steam.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Call it Cal Cup Light, but Bay Meadows gets into the spirit of Santa Anita's California Cup with a pair of stakes races for California-bred juveniles on Saturday.
Ten fillies entered the Bam's Penny Stakes, while six colts entered the Don B. Stakes. Both races were named for past Cal-bred stars and will be run at six furlongs. Both have $80,000-added purses.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In the past few years horsemen from Alberta, Winnipeg, Washington, and Oregon have flocked to Hastings Park to claim horses at the end of the meet and take them back home. With the shortage of horses in British Columbia and a desire by the Horsemen's Benevolent Protective Association to discourage this type of raiding, Debbie Peebles, director of racing at Hastings, has come up with an innovative condition book for the last four weeks of the Hastings meet.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When an owner drops in a claim of $10,000 for a horse, there is often a surprise or two when the horse returns to the barn.
But when trainer Frank Monteleone looked at Rio Oro in the Del Mar paddock in summer 2001, the gelding's problems were fairly obvious. "He had everything - a tendon, he looked bad - I didn't want to claim him."
Monteleone was overruled by owner Bernie Schiappa, who said, "It's only money."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - In most years, Mobil would lock up Canadian champion juvenile honors with a win in Saturday's Coronation Futurity, an important nine-furlong race for Canadian-breds.
But because of the triumphs of his high-profile stablemate Wando and the unbeaten Added Edge, it will probably take a Herculean effort for him to have a chance at the Sovereign award.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Statebred stakes races aren't supposed to showcase the top talent in a region, but Saturday's $30,000 Eleanora Sears Handicap at Suffolk Downs will match two of the best female runners in New England in a sprint for Massachusetts-breds.
Both Sunlit Ridge and African Princess are coming off layoffs and returning to their home track. Both are also stars of their two highly successful Bay State pedigree lines.
