ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer John Ross was doing some serious soul-searching here Tuesday after watching Arco's Gold, who is undefeated in two starts, work four furlongs in 47.40 seconds on a fast main track.
Arco's Gold, a 2-year-old colt owned by Alex and Steven DiIorio has won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special on Sept. 8 and a seven-furlong, first-level allowance on Oct. 13.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - If ESPN's Sportscenter covered Thoroughbred racing at Bay Meadows, they would say trainer Bud Klokstad was "en fuego."
Klokstad has indeed been "on fire" this meet, having won with 11 of his first 26 starters.
Klokstad sends out two more more Thursday - stakes winner Neon Queen in the feature race, a six-furlong, $40,000 optional claimer, and Geardown in a 5 1/2-furlong, $40,000 starter allowance.
Klokstad brought 25 horses with him from Washington, and, as a word of warning, advises, "My good ones haven't run yet."
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After a disappointing weekend in Chicago, trainer Todd Pletcher is hoping for a turnaround this weekend in New York when he will be represented in three of four stakes races at Aqueduct.
Last Saturday, Pletcher went 0 for 4 in stakes at Arlington Park, including Appleby Gardens's fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and Harlan's Holiday's ninth-place finish in the Classic.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The subtraction of blinkers and the addition of Richard Migliore have equaled a three-race win streak for River Rush. That streak will be severely tested Thursday when River Rush takes on nine rivals in a stakes-caliber, one-mile allowance race over the Aqueduct turf course.
Trainer Lisa Lewis decided to remove the blinkers from River Rush following a high-priced claiming race on July 13 in which River Rush was rank and finished third. Prior to that, he had been scratched out of a Belmont Stakes Day allowance race after breaking through the gate.
Red Bullet, the 2000 Preakness winner, has been entered in Saturday's $55,000 Foggy Road Stakes at Delaware Park, a race his connections hope to use as a springboard to the Grade 1, $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 30.
Red Bullet drew post 7 and will face 12 rivals in the six-furlong race. Michael McCarthy, Delaware's leading rider, has the call.
Trainer Joe Orseno said the Foggy Road was plan B after poor weather in New York two weeks ago affected his ability to get Red Bullet prepared for last Saturday's seven-furlong Sport Page Handicap at Aqueduct.
Because of a totalisator software error, Churchill Downs refunded the entire pool in the first of two daily pick four wagers on Tuesday, while still honoring all legitimate winning tickets.
The error was expected to cost the track the amount awarded on four winning $1 tickets, which was $10,301.20.
The Keeneland Race Course record for all-sources handle was broken at the 17-day fall meet that ended Saturday at the Lexington, Ky., track.
More than $111 million was bet on Keeneland racing during the meet, surpassing by more than $7 million the record set at the 2000 fall meet. The average all-sources handle of $6,540,052 narrowly topped the former record, also set in 2000, showing an increase of 16 percent over corresponding figures for 2001, when some major outlets did not take Keeneland simulcasts for the entire meet.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Months or maybe years from Thursday, not many Churchill Downs fans will remember much about the feature race of Oct. 31, 2002.
But they might very well remember the Gray Ghost, a starter allowance race restricted to gray and roan horses.
"The reason we [offered] it is that everywhere I've ever worked, this kind of race always seems to make tons of print media and the nightly news," said Churchill racing secretary Doug Bredar.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - If ESPN's Sportscenter covered Thoroughbred racing at Bay Meadows, they would say trainer Bud Klokstad was "en fuego."
Klokstad has indeed been "on fire" this meet, having won with 11 of his first 26 starters since arriving in September following the conclusion of the Emerald Downs meet. He has won with more than 42 percent of his starters, and more than 57 percent of his starters have hit the board.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Laura de Seroux, the trainer of Azeri, asked the same question everyone else pondered in light of Saturday's results on the Breeders' Cup card at Arlington Park. When deciding on whom to vote for Horse of the Year, "Who else would you give it to?" de Seroux asked.
