VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Delta Colleen, who used a tremendous late move to win more than $800,000, would love the way the race named in her honor sets up on Sunday. With speedsters Grooms Derby, Lady's Jewel, and Lilsisterlightning all entered, it should favor a horse that does her best running late.
Catahoula Rose certainly fits the bill, and she faces eight other fillies and mares in the $35,000 feature, which will be contested over 1 1/16 miles.
MIAMI - Ariel Smith, 1999 Eclipse Award winner as top apprentice, has been suspended 27 days by the Calder stewards, seven for careless riding and 20 more for being the aggressor in a wild jockeys' room brawl following the running of the fifth race here Monday. He was also fined $1,000 for destroying track property.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Brent Sumja is excited about Federal Highway's turf debut in Sunday's $60,000-added Half Moon Bay Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
Sumja, who purchased Federal Highway in Florida this spring, had considered running the colt on turf, but wasn't sure it was the right move.
"I never thought of running him on turf when we were in the process of purchasing him," Sumja said. "I was told a long time ago: 'Don't ever buy a horse to make him do something else.' I've always followed that advice."
CHICAGO - There are no stakes races at Arlington this weekend - there will be plenty next week - and Saturday's second-level allowance feature appears on paper to be a one-horse race. But almost any racing program is crisscrossed by tangled story lines, and Sunday's is no exception.
With only four wins in 84 starts, trainer David Hinsley has struggled through the summer, though he typically wins his share of races here. But Sunday, Hinsley will find out in the first race if Afleet Loyd is a diamond in the rough.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Maddie May, second to Imperial Gesture in a Saratoga allowance race last month, was flattered when Imperial Gesture came back and won the Grade 1 Gazelle in an impressive performance.
Luckily for Maddie May, she won't find the likes of Imperial Gesture when she runs as the favorite in Sunday's $75,000-added Schenectady Handicap at Belmont Park.
The six-furlong Schenectady is for New York-bred fillies and mares.
POMONA, Calif. - Following a dry winter that led to unsatisfactory conditions on the main track during the spring-summer meet, Hollywood Park has moved forward by one year plans to renovate the dirt surface. The two-day renovation process will be completed next week and will increase organic content and reduce silt and clay compounds.
Track president Rick Baedeker cited unusual weather patterns during winter as a possible reason the track was less forgiving this spring.
SALEM, N.H. - If you use a $25,000 stakes as a workout leading to bigger things, you better have a pretty nice horse. Color trainer Herman Kinchen confident as he sends Sweet Samantha as the favorite in Sunday's Concord Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Rockingham Park.
Sweet Samantha, who is owned by Tolland Farm, has raced only once and will take on a full field in Sunday's six-furlong stakes. But because her debut was a resounding victory at Saratoga, Kinchen is already looking down the road.
MIAMI - As chairman of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association insurance committee, Linda Mills is well aware of the serious problem facing the racing industry regarding workmen's compensation. And as president of the Florida Division of the HBPA, Mills understands how desperate that situation is becoming in her own state.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As a Grade 1 race with a $300,000 purse, the Vosburgh is certainly an important race for a horse to win. As a prep for the Breeders' Cup Sprint, however, a Vosburgh victory is not so imperative.
Only one Vosburgh winner - Artax in 1999 - has come back to win the Sprint. Ten other Vosburgh winners have tried and failed. Still, the Vosburgh has produced its share of Sprint winners, including Gulch, Dancing Spree, Cherokee Run, and last year, Squirtle Squirt, who finished second to Left Bank in the Vosburgh.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Bob Baffert will seek his second consecutive victory in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 5 when he ships Del Mar Futurity winner Icecoldbeeratreds to Belmont Park for the $500,000 race for 2-year-olds.
Baffert won last year's Champagne with Officer, who was also coming off a victory in the Del Mar Futurity. Like Officer, Icecoldbeeratreds is a California-bred who won his first two starts in restricted company.
