CHICAGO - Gene Cilio basically divides his time between three places: Chicago's west side, Arlington Heights, and New Orleans.
You're not going to find many Mardi Gras parades in the Chicago's northwest suburbs, nor will Arlington's luxurious outdoor paddock ever be confused with gritty Sportsman's Park or Hawthorne. And, it's obvious to Cilio, you can't run the same horses in all three places, either.
LOS ANGELES - The California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday refused to allow the 2002 Los Angeles County Fair racing meet to move to Santa Anita. At the end of a three-hour meeting, the board voted 4-1 for racing to stay at Fairplex Park - at least for this year.
Fair officials said they may request a venue switch to Santa Anita in the future, but say they now will run at Fairplex for the upcoming meeting, which runs from Sept. 13 to Sept. 29.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners Estonia and Hopeful Moment will meet a pair of sharp Scott Fairlie-trained runners, Very Professional and Jab, in Friday's Woodbine feature for $80,000 optional claimers.
Estonia won the Kenora Stakes, a race restricted to graduates of local yearling sales, in September, but hasn't won in six starts since. He exhibited signs of life last time, when a fast-closing second at this level, but earned just a 77 Beyer Figure in the process, and would have to improve again here in order to be competitive.
AUBURN, Wash. - Check These Legs, a winner of two of her three starts last year, will dip down in class in an attempt to regain her winning form in Friday's Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong sprint for $8,000 fillies who have not defeated winners twice.
EDMONTON, Alberta - The Canada Day long weekend at Northlands Park traditionally features a number of stakes, and this year's action begins Friday with the $40,000 Wild Rose for older fillies and mares.
Going at a distance of 6 1/2 furlongs, the Wild Rose features an impressive field including Little Lolitta, who was named the top Alberta-bred and the province's champion 3-year-old filly in 2001.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Corey Nakatani has received doctor's clearance to exercise horses, and he could resume riding races next week, two months after suffering head and neck injuries in a one-horse spill, according to his agent, Bob Meldahl.
Nakatani received clearance on Tuesday and will begin working horses on Friday. He is tentatively scheduled to resume riding on Wednesday, Meldahl said.
Meldahl said Nakatani is ready to resume riding but that doctors "want to make sure there are no complications."
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Opening day of the Alameda County Fair Wednesday was tinged with sadness as horsemen and fans learned of the death of popular trainer Charlie Comiskey.
Comiskey, 76, who lived in the neighboring town of Livermore, died Sunday. A private family service was held Thursday.
Comiskey first became associated with the racing industry when he parents purchased a Thoroughbred in 1937. The next year, at age 13, Comiskey began walking hots for trainer Charlie Irby. He later groomed for Willard Blake.
ALTOONA, Iowa - The 2001 3-year-old Iowa-bred filly of the year, Sharky's Review, squares off against defending Iowa-bred mare of the year Nut N Better again, in Friday's $75,000-added, 1 1/16-mile Hawkeyes Handicap at Prairie Meadows.
Sharky's Review rallied from well back to score a one-length victory over Sumthintotalkabout and Nut N Better in the six-furlong Mamie Eisenhower Stakes for statebreds on June 7 in her last start.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Patti Cooksey, riding for the first time since undergoing a mastectomy last September, finished second aboard Gold Empress in the fourth race Wednesday.
Cooksey, 44, trails only Julie Krone among female riders in North American racing history, with 2,120 victories.
"I'm a little tired, but I got a good blow," Cooksey said after the race.
Gold Empress was the only mount on the card for Cooksey, who said she does not know when she will retire, "but when I do, I want it to be on my own terms," she said.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - With Anticipation was a multiple Grade 1 winner on the turf last year, his first full year of racing on the grass, but it was a stakes he didn't win that signaled his prominence in the country's handicap division.
With Anticipation finished first in the $500,000 United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park, at that point his biggest race, but he was disqualified and placed second because of drifting out into Senure in the stretch. He will return to Monmouth in this year's Grade 1 United Nations next Saturday, July 6, trainer Jonathan Sheppard said Wednesday.