SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Open the gates, and they will come. And, they will bet.
Under ideal weather conditions, and despite an offtrack to begin the day, Saratoga posted record numbers for the Wednesday opening of its 134th season.
The ontrack crowd of 32,913 topped last year's figure of 31,254 by 5 percent and the ontrack handle of $3,723,441 beat last year's figure by 6 percent. Total handle on opening day was $14,941,864, which beat last year's figure by 4 percent.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Questions surround the form of several of the leading contenders in Friday's $125,000 California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stakes at Del Mar.
Global Finance won the Nursery Stakes at Hollywood Park in May but was 10th as the favorite in the Cinderella Stakes on June 2. The result left her trainer dismayed.
Magic Smoke won the Cinderella but was eighth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Landaluce Stakes on July 4. "She didn't handle the dirt coming back," trainer Sandy Shulman said.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Northlands Park patrons will get their first look at the current crop of 2-year-old colts on Friday in the $40,000 Edmonton Juvenile.
The favorite for the six-furlong Juvenile is Taiaslew, a Washington-bred trained by Greg Tracy.
Taiaslew was an easy winner of his debut here June 28, taking a six-length lead into the stretch drive before widening to 10 1/2 lengths at the finish.
The impressive performance wasn't a shock to Tracy, who said Taiaslew appears to have a successful career ahead of him.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Crystallo could be a slight favorite over seven well-matched older horses going 1 1/16 miles in the Hastings Park feature race on Friday evening. Crystallo is dropping a notch after finishing a close fourth to former stakes winner Vernon Invader, while Happy Again and Titan Steel are both stepping up in class after sharp wins.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Ready or not, Golden Apples makes her first start in three months in Saturday's $400,000 John Mabee/Ramona Handicap.
A major stakes winner at Santa Anita in March, Golden Apples was rested through the spring after being treated for a cyst or abscess in her throat, under her epiglottis, trainer Ben Cecil said. The ailment was discovered after she finished second to Astra in the Santa Barbara Handicap at Santa Anita in April.
DEL MAR, Calif. - There are few days in racing quite like opening day at Del Mar, where the party-like atmosphere has made it a must-do on the social scene in Southern California. Wednesday's opener, run in ideal conditions, was the best in track history, with 37,284 squeezing themselves into the track and their skimpy outfits.
Churchill Downs Inc., which owns six racetracks in the United States, had record net income of $23.1 million, or $1.73 a share, in the second quarter of 2002, company officials said Wednesday.
Revenues in the quarter, which included the Kentucky Derby, Churchill's most lucrative event, were $172.6 million, also a record and an increase of 6 percent over revenues in the second quarter of 2001. Net income was 6 percent better than the second quarter of 2001.
Colonial Downs in Virginia closed its 26-day summer meet on Tuesday with double-digit increases in nearly all attendance and handle categories, the track reported Wednesday.
Average ontrack attendance of 2,204 was 13 percent better than the attendance figure from last year. Ontrack handle of $191,212 was up 20 percent over last year and a record for the track, which opened in 1997.
Jockey Ramon Dominguez, second in the country in races won, broke his wrist in a spill at Delaware Park on Wednesday.
Lovely Lady, the 6-5 favorite in the seventh race, held a clear lead in midstretch of the 1 1/16-mile turf race when she seemed to bobble and then fell heavily, throwing Dominguez to the ground.