Fair Grounds has made several significant changes to its schedule and racing office staff while dropping three stakes races during its upcoming winter meet.
Ben Huffman, racing secretary at Keeneland, replaces Brent Seward as stakes coordinator. Huffman, the son of trainer Blackie Huffman, also has served as racing secretary at Ellis Park. Jason Boulet, a jockey's agent with racing office experience, will become assistant director of racing.
RUIDOSO, NM - Treis Seis qualified fastest to the Grade 1 $219,403 All American Derby Friday at Ruidoso Downs giving trainer John Bassett a strong hand to pull off a double of Ruidoso's two premier Labor Day weekend events, the All American Futurity and All American Derby.
Bassett qualifed two runners to the All American Futurity on Thursday, second-fastest First To Flash and seventh-fastest First Place Queen.
AUBURN, Wash. - Lasting Code is getting cranky, and that makes trainer Bob McMeans glad.
Owner Jerre Paxton purchased Lasting Code, the certain favorite for Sunday's $100,000 Washington Breeders' Cup Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at nine furlongs, in a private transaction in May, and at that time she was a perfect lady.
"She was so quiet around the barn, I thought she was just a real laid-back filly," recalled McMeans. "I didn't know that just wasn't her."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Catalogs are out for the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society B.C. Division yearling and mixed sale, which is scheduled for Sept. 10 at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, a suburb of Vancouver.
Last year's numbers were down, but Dixie Jacobson, president of the B.C. division of the CTHS, is optimistic about the upcoming sale.
"People are just so enthusiastic about racing in B.C. right now," she said.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Mickey Goldfine has maneuvered Galic Boy with surgical precision the last couple of seasons. Goldfine knows what his horse can do and when he can do it, and he trains him accordingly - no wasted energy, no wasted starts.
The strategy of realistic placement has gotten the 7-year-old Galic Boy four wins and more than $200,000 in earnings the last two seasons. Sunday, Galic Boy faces eight opponents in The Bart Stakes, a $60,000-added overnight race at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
SALEM, N.H. - So far Slippery Gator has quietly distinguished himself, but Sunday's $25,000 Kevin McHugh Memorial Handicap offers Slippery Gator, 3-year-old son of broodmare Lady Gator, a chance to become a bona fide regional star.
Lady Gator has already foaled two New England champions for owner Francis McDonnell. Sandy Gator won the region's horse of the year title in 1998.
Nana's Toy earned awards from the New England Turf Writers in 1997 and 1999.
Boots on Sunday, a gutsy winner of a Retama stakes in his last start, travels to Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., on Sunday to take on the Cole Norman-trained pair of Unrullah Bull and That Tat in the $40,000 Folklore Handicap.
The 6 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up drew a field of six, and is being run for the first time since 1996.
If it seems that Sunday's $50,000 Vivacious Handicap at River Downs in Cincinnati looks a lot like the Ms. Southern Ohio Stakes contested two weeks ago, it does.
The conditions for the Vivacious are the same as for the Ms. Southern Ohio - Ohio-bred fillies and mares running 1 1/16 miles on turf - and the top three finishers from the Ms. Southern Ohio are the main contenders in the Vivacious.
RUIDOSO, NM - A lightly-raced 2-year-old filly broke the longstanding Ruidoso Downs track record for the classic 440-yard Quarter Horse distance Thursday in one of many impressive performances during a day-long card of 23 trials to the Grade 1 $1,896,250 All American Futurity.
The filly Ab What A Runner was making her first start since May 26, and only the second start of her career, when she exploded from the gate under jockey Jay Conklin in the tenth trial and cruised to a 1 1/4-length victory over Silvered Eyes while posting the fastest qualifying time of 20.993 seconds.
