INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An absence from the races for nearly 21 months must have left Endless Summer rusty when he made his North American debut on June 23. When the gates opened, he stood there, before realizing the urgency of the task at hand.
Endless Summer rallied belatedly for third that day, and he has come back to work well since, leaving trainer Bobby Frankel confident that Endless Summer can run down the speedy Rocky Bar and capture Thursday's $51,000 feature race at Hollywood Park.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Came Home came out of his victory in Sunday's Swaps Stakes in good condition, trainer Paco Gonzalez said on Tuesday morning, and though no decision has been reached on where Came Home will run next, Gonzalez said the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on Aug. 4 is among the possibilities.
Gonzalez said the Haskell is the preferred spot of John Toffan, who heads the partnership that owns Came Home. But Gonzalez cautioned that no decision will be reached for, he said, "a week to 10 days."
The reaction on Wall Street Tuesday to the announcement that Magna Entertainment had purchased majority shares in the Maryland Jockey Club's Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park was muted. Magna's stock dropped 3 cents, or one-half of 1 percent, to $6.02, on volume of 54,100 shares, well below the company's average daily volume of 335,000 shares.
Around the racing industry, the reaction was much the same.
Magna Entertainment has reached a complex agreement to buy a majority interest in Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, officials from Magna and the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates the tracks, announced Monday.
The deal, which ended months of speculation and negotiations, will give Magna a 51 percent stake in Pimlico and a 58 percent stake in Laurel Park. It will also provide 220 live racing days and a Triple Crown track to Magna's growing empire. Pimlico annually hosts the Preakness Stakes, second leg of the Triple Crown and by far the biggest money-maker for the MJC.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The conventional prep for the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap is the Honorable Miss Stakes. Allen Jerkens didn't get elected into the Hall of Fame doing things the conventional way.
Jerkens won last year's Ballerina with Shine Again, who was coming off a two-month layoff and was shortening up after a third-place finish in the two-turn Molly Pitcher Handicap at Monmouth Park.
CHICAGO - Go ahead, make fun of the goofy hood. With it, Harlan Ash has gone from a skittish maiden to a stakes-placed mare.
She is also one of the favorites Wednesday in Arlington's feature, a third-level allowance with a $50,000 claiming option that drew a field of eight fillies and mares.
The hood isn't hard to spot. There it sits, covering the top of Harlan Ash's head, ears and all. It's padded and prominent, but if it has affronted her dignity Harlan Ash isn't telling, and the hood clearly has aided her development as a racehorse.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Lady Angela Stakes winner Spanish Decree should be well backed Wednesday at Woodbine in the featured Passing Mood Stakes, a seven-furlong turf sprint for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.
Spanish Decree won the April 21 Lady Angela at seven furlongs going away, a race that came on the heels of her easy maiden victory in her first start of the year.
She then finished sixth with a wide trip in the Grade 1 Selene Stakes, and was second in the Apelia Stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When Geo Quercus finished fifth in his United States debut in May, trainer Marty Jones was far from discouraged.
Instead, he focused on the future.
Geo Quercus returns on Wednesday in a $58,000 optional claimer over a mile on turf at Hollywood Park, a race that could serve as a prep for a minor stakes at Del Mar.
Wednesday's program is the start of the final week of the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting. Del Mar opens on July 24.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Lone Star Park concluded its sixth Thoroughbred season Sunday with small gains in average attendance and handle over the same meet in 2001, and Steve Asmussen won seven of the 14 closing-day races to wrap up his fourth consecutive training title.
Attendance during the 70-day season averaged 9,025 a card, up 1.5 percent from a year ago. Handle on the track's races from all sources averaged $2,680,886 daily, up 2.7 percent from last year.
Lone Star handled an average $632,387 a day on its races ontrack, and $2,048,498 offtrack.
Libby's Halo, the favorite, won the $59,700 Polly's Jet Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park on Monday.
Ridden by Ramon Dominguez, Libby's Halo raced closed to the pace before overtaking pacesetter Tasty Lace early in the stretch of the five-furlong grass race. Libby's Halo was a length winner over No Halos Here. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back to Miss Atticus in third.
Tasty Lace, Dizzy, Barely Perfect, and Afnan completed the order of finish.
