DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Mel Stute wanted to see Buffythecenterfold work well on Tuesday at Del Mar, but he was just as concerned about her condition immediately after the drill. So when jockey Matt Garcia brought the filly back to the barn, Stute asked, with hope in his voice, "No coughing?"
"No," Garcia replied.
And with that, Stute continued to hold out hope that Buffythecenterfold would make Saturday's $250,000 Del Mar Debutante, in which she would be one of the top choices.
OKLAHOMA CITY - A deep closer managed by two heart patients would seem to be a dangerous mix, but The Judge Sez Who, winner of the Grade 3, $295,000 Oklahoma Derby last Sunday at Remington Park, has been nothing but good for the health of his owner, Richard Simon, and his trainer, Milton Wolfson.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Lady Shari checked back into Woodbine Tuesday morning following her successful invasion of Alberta, where she was a romping winner of Saturday's Canadian Derby at Northlands Park.
If all goes according to plan, Lady Shari soon will be adding to her air miles with a trip to Vancouver for the Sept. 7 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Oaks at Hastings Park.
"We'll see how she is," said Dave Cotey, who trains Lady Shari and is a co-owner of the filly along with Derek Ball and Hugh Galbraith. "We'll go really, really easy with her.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The race for both Horse of the Year and the 3-year-old championship has taken on a decidedly different look in the aftermath of this past weekend, when victories by Came Home and Medaglia d'Oro, and a loss by War Emblem, put all three on virtually equal footing two months before the Breeders' Cup Classic.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Terry Houghton, the leading rider at Great Lakes Downs who is currently second in the national rankings by victories, will be sidelined until at least this weekend as the result of a concussion he sustained during the seventh race at Great Lakes on Sunday evening.
Houghton was knocked out after his mount, Sounds Sunny, clipped heels and tossed him some distance forward. A trailing horse then hit him in the head, ripping his helmet away.
Bruanna extended her winning streak to five races by capturing Monday's $59,100 Veiled Look Stakes at Delaware Park.
The 4-year-old Bruanna, claimed by trainer Mike Gorham for $35,000 in mid-June, is undefeated since Anthony Black became her regular rider. Black said the filly is finally learning how to relax and ration her speed.
"They said she always had a lot of speed, but she would run and kind of stagger during the later part of races," Black said. "I guess as she has matured she has figured out that she can get a deep breath and relax."
DEL MAR, Calif. - The steadily improving Tradition Rocks, who soundly beat maidens in his last start here on Aug. 4, heads a field of first-level allowance horses in Wednesday's featured seventh race at Del Mar, in which five of the eight runners are coming off victories against maidens.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It took This Guns for Hire seven starts to get his first victory, but trainer John Terranova still thought enough of him to nominate and seriously consider running him in Monday's Pennsylvania Derby.
But Terranova opted to take a more conservative route with 3-year-old This Guns for Hire, who will find the competition much easier taking on eight rivals going 1 1/8 miles under first-level allowance conditions in Wednesday's $48,000 feature at Saratoga.