INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A victory cannot arrive soon enough for Euchre, who starts in a $58,000 allowance race at Hollywood Park on Friday.
Euchre has lost eight consecutive races, all in graded stakes, and has been entered in an allowance over 1 1/16 miles in an effort to restore his confidence.
Trained by Bobby Frankel, the 6-year-old Euchre finished fifth in the Grade 2 Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 6, losing by 5 1/2 lengths to Pleasantly Perfect.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wet-track specialists Expected Flirt and Leavethestudio are among the contenders in Friday's Woodbine headliner, a 6 1/2-furlong allowance for nonwinners-of-two races other than maiden, claiming, or restricted, or nonwinners-of-three races.
Expected Flirt has run three solid races since he was claimed for $60,000 by trainer Bob Tiller for The Very Dry Stable on Sept. 26. He was checked along the rail in midstretch in an Oct. 14 allowance, in which he was moved from fourth to third by disqualification.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Friday's feature at Aqueduct was originally carded as a mile turf race in the condition book. With a forecast for rain and an already rain-saturated turf course, the racing office wisely decided to scrap that idea and to accept entries for a dirt race at the same distance.
The likely favorite in the nine-horse field for the $58,000 allowance is Folkestone Park, a $1.15 million Keeneland yearling with 4 wins from 7 starts.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Danny who trains calls the Danny who rides "the most underrated rider at Churchill Downs."
Indeed, jockey Danny Coa is enjoying perhaps the most prosperous span of his career since he was a hot apprentice in 1998-99, having already won seven races at the Churchill fall meet, good for ninth in the jockey standings. Veteran trainer Danny Hutt believes Coa deserves more opportunities and, in the Friday feature at Churchill, he is putting one of his best horses behind that opinion.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When Grammarian won the Sunset Handicap at 29-1 at Hollywood Park in July, owner Lindsey Williams dared to dream of lofty goals this fall.
Holding the winner's trophy, Williams announced that Grammarian's autumn goal was the prestigious Melbourne Cup in early November in Australia, where the owner was born.
That never happened. Grammarian was unplaced in the Sword Dancer Handicap at Saratoga and Kentucky Cup Turf at Kentucky Downs, forcing Williams to plot a more realistic campaign in the United States.
ALBANY, Calif. - When jockey Jason Lumpkins decided to move to Kentucky, it broke up the highest-ranking trainer-jockey turf combination in the country.
Based on statistics over the past three years from Daily Racing Form, the website Turfday.com rated Lumpkins and trainer Chuck Jenda the nation's No. 1 trainer-jockey combo.
Two other northern California trainer-jockey combos, R.L. Martin-Chad Schvaneveldt and Alex Paszkeicz-Alfredo Miranda, ranked third and fourth, respectively.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Following wins in his last two starts, including an upset in the Mohawk Handicap, New York-bred Quiet Ruler steps into graded stakes company in Saturday's $150,000 Red Smith Handicap at 1 3/8 miles at Aqueduct.
Quiet Ruler stunned the New York Showcase Day crowd with his 1 3/4-length win in the restricted Mohawk over a soft turf course at Belmont Park on Oct. 19. Trained by Russell Mueller, Quiet Ruler (45-1) was the second-longest price in the 11-horse Mohawk field.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With nearly $350,000 and a Grade 3 win to her credit, Quick Tip has accomplished pretty much everything owner Will Farish and trainer Neil Howard have asked.
Yet there is little doubt that if Quick Tip can pull a mild upset Saturday in the $150,000 Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs, it would be the highlight of her career. Quick Tip, a 4-year-old Unaccounted For filly, is expected to be part of a full and highly competitive field in the Cardinal, a Grade 3, 1 1/8-mile turf race.
AUBURN, Wash. - Last Sunday morning, several hours before he was to send out first-time starter Yada Yada Yada against the heavily favored Stately Jack Flash in the $14,120 Bill Wineberg Stakes at Portland Meadows, trainer Nick Lowe confided that he had dreamed about the race earlier in the week.
"Our horse was laying fourth, stalking the pace, then in the deep stretch he slipped through along the rail and nipped Stately Jack Flash right on the wire," Lowe said.
MIAMI - The Gulfstream barn area is slowly starting to come to life with a number of trainers having already shipped in at least a portion of their stables for the winter season. Several trainers will van their horses across town to participate in upcoming stakes at Calder.
Among that group is Joe Orseno, who has three horses bedded down at Gulfstream, including turf specialists Krieger and Golden Corona, a pair of 4-year-olds he plans to run on Calder's Grand Slam I program on Dec. 7.