Aside from farmers in the Garden State whose crops have withered during this summer's drought, no one may have been happier to see steady rains falling at the New Jersey shore than trainer John Servis.
Servis has entered Tempest Fugit in Saturday's $50,000 Bob Harding Stakes at Monmouth Park. But Servis will run Tempest Fugit only if the one-mile turf race is shifted to the main track.
Saratoga isn't the only racetrack on the East Coast where 2-year-olds have a chance to race for big money this weekend.
Delaware Park, in conjunction with the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors, has a pair of $200,000 stakes on its Saturday card. The Futurity for 2-year-old colts and geldings, and the Sorority for 2-year-old fillies share billing with a third stakes, the $75,000 Denise Rhudy Memorial for 3-year-old turf fillies.
Both of the 2-year-old stakes, which will be contested at six furlongs, drew full fields of 14 horses.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Will the third time be a charm?
Trainer Jedd Josephson certainly hopes so as he sends out Onslaught for Saturday's $60,000-added Mae De Vol Sprint at six furlongs at Bay Meadows.
The race will be Onslaught's third of 2002 after missing more than a year with an injury, the nature of which Josephson wouldn't reveal, that nearly forced her retirement.
After running third behind Slewsbox in the Woodside Handicap on May 5, 2001, Onslaught didn't run again until this July 13 in the Vacaville Handicap at Vallejo.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Crypto's Twinjet and Kind of Fun will meet for the third time in Saturday's $40,000 Ohio Debutante Handicap. Perhaps this time the order of finish will be decided on the racetrack and not in the stewards' stand.
Crypto's Twinjet, highweighted at 123 pounds, was placed second after winning the nine-furlong Queen City Oaks at River Downs by a neck in her last start. Kind of Fun was placed first by the stewards.
Surely it has been a while since two horses with recent form at Delaware Park were the favorites in a stakes race at Ellis Park. But that's a plausible scenario Saturday at the Henderson, Ky., track, where a full field of fillies and mares will clash in the $60,000 Dade Turf Classic.
DEL MAR, Calif. - With a minor injury behind her, Printemps makes her first start in more than five months in Friday's $75,000 Piedra Foundation Handicap, a race that could lead to appearances in major stakes for her later this year.
Trained by Ron McAnally, the
5-year-old Printemps is the 121-pound highweight for the Piedra Foundation, run over a mile on Del Mar's main track.
There are only five entrants in the stakes, which is restricted to fillies and mares that have not won a first-place purse of $45,000 at a mile or over since Feb. 1.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Sometimes handicappers forget that trainers - even jockeys - read Daily Racing Form, too. How many times does a race that on paper is laden with speed play out as relatively paceless? And how many times does a "lone speed" horse suddenly find competition for the lead when a race actually unfolds?
Red Mimi was one of those supposed lone speeds when she raced here July 19. Coming out of an easy 4 1/2-length win on July 4, she figured to lope along by herself and have plenty left for her stretch run, even moving up one allowance class off her victory.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Twin preliminary allowance races, both at six furlongs on the grass, compose Friday's late double at Woodbine.
The ninth race, a wide-open race for males, includes a Stronach Stable entry of High Wire Glory and Daddy Cool.
High Wire Glory, trained by Roger Attfield, took six starts to win his maiden, but did so with relative ease over a good field on April 19. He was a fast-closing fourth in his first try on turf, in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance
EDMONTON, Alberta - With 22 years of riding experience behind him, Christopher McGregor has been a stalwart at Northlands for nearly two decades.
But at age 43, admits McGregor, "My body is not as willing to take the abuse as it used to be."
McGregor was tossed from a mount last fall when his horse wheeled coming out of the starting gate, and while he carried on, McGregor knew something wasn't right.
