INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Cottage completed laying the groundwork for a stakes appearance at the upcoming Santa Anita winter meeting by scoring his third consecutive win in a $60,088 allowance race at Hollywood Park on Friday.
Racing over 1 1/16 miles on the main track, Cottage ($14) won by a neck over the heavily favored Euchre, handing that 6-year-old his ninth consecutive loss. Friday's win marked the conclusion of a difficult year with Cottage for trainer Bill Spawr.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - At Churchill Downs, the last week is to the fall what the first week is to the spring.
That is, whereas every spring meet hits its peak early with the Kentucky Derby, the most prestigious races of the fall meet are saved for the last few days. That pattern will hold true again next week when four Grade 2 races are run during the final three programs of the 30-day fall meet.
$250,000 Falls City Handicap (Thursday): Take Charge Lady, with Edgar Prado to ride, will be a solid favorite in her first start since finishing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jockey Victor Carrero was fined $2,000 and suspended for 15 days by the Aqueduct stewards after showing a "gross display of temper" after his mount, Saltaat, broke his leg in Thursday's second race. Carrero flung dirt and his whip at the prone Saltaat, who was euthanized on the track just past the finish line. Carrero was not injured. Carrero, 21, does not intend to appeal the fine or suspension, which begins on Monday.
On Friday, in a prepared statement, Carrero apologized to, among others, Deborah Bodner, the owner and trainer of Saltaat.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Kevin Attard enjoyed a successful meeting at Fort Erie this year, which was his first full campaign as a trainer.
Attard, the 26-year-old son of trainer Tino Attard, saddled 34 winners and 86 in-the-money finishers from 186 starters, good for earnings of $546,149 and fourth place in the standings.
But Attard does not plan to return to Fort Erie next year, and already has embarked on a new phase of his career by hanging out his shingle as a public trainer here at Woodbine.
MIAMI - Friday's first and richest race, a $30,000 allowance scheduled at a mile on the turf, was supposed to have served as a prep for the $100,000, Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap here on Dec. 7. But after being switched to the main track because of the soft condition of the grass course, the race turned into a possible prep for, of all things, the Great State Classic at Sam Houston Park.
ALBANY, Calif. - D's Bertrando, who recorded the highest Beyer Speed Figure for any 2-year-old runner this year in his last start, is scheduled to make his stakes debut on Sunday in the $60,000-added Golden Bear Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
D's Bertrando, who will be coupled with Timely Jeff for trainer Jeff Bonde, looms the heavy favorite in the six-furlong race, which attracted six entrants.
VINTON, La. - On Sunday night, 2-year-olds will contest the Jean Lafitte Stakes for the second time this year at Delta Downs. But there are few similarities between the two races.
The $75,000 Jean Lafitte Futurity, traditionally the lone bright spot of the spring stakes program here, has been run at four furlongs during the first week of April in recent years. On Sunday, it has been changed to a two-turn, seven-furlong race. The new spot on the calendar has attracted a group of youngsters with much more established form than when the Jean Lafitte was run in the spring.
ANDERSON Ind. - Maggie's Dream and Pass Rush will both be heavily favored when they headline a pair of $40,000 Indiana-bred stakes at Hoosier Park on Sunday night.
Maggie's Dream tops a field of 10 fillies and mares set to go 1 1/16 miles in the Frances Slocum Stakes, carded as the fourth of 11 races.
Maggie's Dream simply embarrassed her opponents last time when trying this distance for the first time, running away with a 17 3/4-length win in the Richmond Stakes.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Sunday's $125,000-added New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap, a six-furlong race for statebred fillies and mares, pits the best older sprinting mare among statebreds against a 3-year-old who has come into her own this season.
The 4-year-old Wampus Who is 5 for 6 this year and has earned almost $95,000. Trained by O. D. Jamison, Wampus Who has been sidelined since July 14 and apparently has been pointed for this race.
Wampus Who has the ability to finish well after stalking a fast pace.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Delta Form, the Australian-bred who won a major race in South Africa before arriving in the United States last year, is seeking his first Grade 1 win in the 1 1/2-mile, $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Saturday.
But it is only a prep to yet another stop on an ongoing world tour - the $1.8 million Hong Kong Vase on Dec. 15.
