ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mickey Walls, plagued by health problems related to his constant need to reduce his weight, has taken a leave of absence of indeterminate length from race riding.
The 28-year-old Walls had a particularly difficult struggle with his weight this year after an ankle injury prior to the start of the season compromised his conditioning regimen.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Terry Jordan, who will send out probable second-choice Danzilation in Sunday's Hastings Park Speed Handicap, has consistently been one of the top percentage trainers at Hastings Park. This year is no exception: He has won with 16 of the 34 horses he has started - an impressive 47 percent win average.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Special Dolly will be the one to beat in Friday's featured sixth race at Assiniboia Downs, a conditioned allowance for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.
Trained by Darla Singh, Special Dolly finished second by a nose at the same level two starts ago and won her last race when she was in for an $8,000 claiming price. She has drawn the rail here, and Rohan Singh will ride.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - With a quick final workout Wednesday for the Grade 2 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth this Sunday, Include has seemed to shake off any rust left over from an 11-week layoff heading into a campaign that will lead to the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 26.
Grade 1 winner Include, the probable favorite in the $350,000 Iselin, drilled four furlongs in a rapid 46.60 seconds at Laurel Park, the best of 21 at the distance. Trainer Bud Delp said he was pleased with Include's workout.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The bad news coming from Todd Pletcher's barn was not confined to Left Bank's colic surgery.
The Pletcher-trained Freedom's Daughter, who won the Grade 2 Schuylerville Stakes here on opening day, died suddenly Monday morning due to what is believed to be colitis X, a disease that renders a horse's lower intestinal tract dysfunctional and makes it susceptible to bacteria. An autopsy was to be performed to further narrow down the cause of death.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In late March, the Fair Grounds season was winding down to its last big event, the Explosive Bid. Fourteen turf horses were entered, good ones too. But there was Beat Hollow, with just a third-level allowance win in this country, opening up at odds of 6-5.
CHICAGO - For all the talented 3-year-old grass horses Bill Mott has trained, he has won the premier 3-year-old grass race in this country, the Grade 1 Secretariat, only once. The win came 17 years ago with Derby Wish, and since then talented colts like King Cugat, Glok, Trail City, and even Paradise Creek came up short in the Secretariat.
DEL MAR, Calif. - When Hot War scored a front-running victory in Monday's $100,000 Real Good Deal Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds, he gave jockey Eddie Delahoussaye his 15th win of the meet, tying him for second with Laffit Pincay Jr., just three behind the leader, Patrick Valenzuela. Considering that Delahoussaye rides far fewer horses than anyone else in the top five this meet, his position in the standings is remarkable.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A gelding who raced six times in Ontario last year as Northern Olympian was in fact a horse who now is known as Zubat.
Zubat and Northern Olympian, both bay geldings with similar markings, were bred in Ontario by The Bell Farm and somehow became mixed up before being offered at auction here.
The horse who would erroneously be known as Northern Olympian went through the open yearling sale in 1999, where he was bought back for $8,000, and later became the property of owners Teri Vella and Michael Cooke.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Bella Bellucci, who has missed major 3-year-old filly events such as the Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose because of various infirmities, appears all set to run in Saturday's Grade 1 Alabama Stakes, trainer Neil Drysdale said.
Bella Bellucci last ran on July 19, when she romped to a 11 3/4-length victory in a nine-furlong classified allowance race at Belmont Park. She earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105 for the effort.
