SAN MATEO, Calif. - A rematch of Bay Meadows's race of the year in 2001 will not take place in Monday's $100,000 California Turf Championship.
The one-mile race for California-breds was expected to match millionaire Native Desert and Spinelessjellyfish, who dead-heated in the 2001 running.
Juan Garcia said Saturday that 9-year-old Native Desert, a three-time winner of the race, had injured an ankle during a Friday gallop.
"It was a little swollen," he said. "I don't want to take a chance."
Mr Ross, one of the top handicap horses in the region, will make a rare start around one turn Monday in the $30,000 Silver Bullet Centennial Stakes at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Mr Ross won the seven-furlong Silver Bullet Centennial last year, and with the victory improved his record around one turn to 2 for 3. His chief rivals Sunday are three sprinters who won stakes in their last starts: Medium Rare, Dance and Dazzle, and That Tat.
LAFAYETTE, La. - This year's season will end in style Monday night as a dozen 2-year-olds line up in the Lafayette Stakes.
The six-furlong Lafayette, the final leg of the Evangeline Triple Crown for Juveniles, is worth a guaranteed $50,000 and will be the 10th event of the 12-race holiday card that starts at 6:45 p.m.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Chauffe au Rouge, who was an explosive winner of the $50,000 Retama Turf Cup in his last start, returns to his home course Monday as the 120-pound highweight in the $50,000 Barksdale Handicap at Louisiana Downs.
The 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up drew a field of eight, including the winner of the Grade 3 Texas Mile, Unrullah Bull, who is coupled with Chauffe au Rouge, and Rebridled and Big Numbers, who finished second and third to Prince Iroquois last month in the $50,000 Ark-La-Tex Handicap.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye was hospitalized Friday evening after being injured in a spill during the sixth race at Del Mar.
Delahoussaye's mount Seeisbelieving fractured his right front cannon bone and fell passing the half-mile pole of the turf race, throwing Delahoussaye to the ground. The 3-year-old gelding, trained by Mike Machowsky, was euthanized.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Not only is Bobby Frankel a very good trainer, he's also a pretty fair handicapper, and that is why he decided to enter Aldebaran along with Squirtle Squirt in Sunday's $250,000 Forego Handicap.
With Squirtle Squirt, the lightning-fast Orientate, and California invader Explicit in the field, Frankel figures the Forego could set up for a horse from off the pace. And Aldebaran has the running style that may make him the one to beat in the 6 1/2-furlong, Grade 1 race.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Mister Kybelee, the newest face in the California turf marathon division, may be arriving on the scene at the perfect time.
Throughout the year, the circuit's top turf stakes at 1 1/4 miles or farther have lacked a standout. No horse in that category has won more than one Grade 1 or Grade 2.
The parity is a leading reason why 13 horses were entered for Sunday's Grade 2, $250,000 Del Mar Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on turf. And several of them are capable of winning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It has been a long time since owner Nelson Bunker Hunt's fabled green colors adorned a runner at Woodbine.
Hunt, who won the Grade 1 Canadian International three times in the 1970's - with Dahlia, Youth, and Exceller - will be represented by Kentucky shipper Hattiesburg in Sunday's $136,500 Seaway Stakes.
Silver Donn and Shacane will put their winning streaks on the line when they square off in the $35,000 Richmond Derby Trial Sunday at Hastings Park. Silver Donn has won his last four starts, including the Burnaby and the Stallion Stakes.
Shacane has won his last three starts and comes off of his first stakes win in the Jim Coleman Province July 21.
Silver Donn, who races for J & V Morgan Ventures Ltd., has been assigned high weight of 123 pounds and will concede six pounds to Shacane, who hasn't raced since his win in the Jim Coleman Province.
AUBURN, Wash. - Premo Copy, who has twice been stakes-placed at the Emerald Downs meeting, will have a prime opportunity to collect her first stakes win when she takes on just four rivals in Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong John and Kitty Fletcher Memorial Stakes.
