Happily Unbridled was no match for the likes of Raging Fever and other top-class fillies and mares when trainer Elliott Walden ran her last month in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park.
But a move to a considerably easier spot Saturday should give Happily Unbridled every opportunity to notch her first victory in more than 10 months. Happily Unbridled is the likely favorite in the $100,000 HBPA Handicap, the first of 11 stakes to be run this summer at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A week after missing stakes because of minor injury and illness, Full Moon Madness and Fair Apache return in Saturday's $75,000 Answer Do Stakes at Hollywood Park, a turf sprint that both can win.
Full Moon Madness missed the $300,000 Triple Bend Breeders' Cup Handicap on July 6 because of a tender foot. Fair Apache missed the $75,000 Great Lady M Handicap last Sunday after she developed a temperature.
EDMONTON, Alberta - With a convincing wire-to-wire victory in the Alberta Derby already on his resume, Vancouver-based Lord Shogun sets out on the Canadian Derby trail when he heads a capacity field of 12 in the $40,000 Ky Alta at Northlands Park on Saturday.
Lord Shogun, who surprised at 6-1 in his first try at a route, has not raced since winning the June 15 Alberta Derby at 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the Ky Alta. He drew the outside post, just as he did in the 11-horse Alberta Derby.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The $35,000 Timber Music Stakes on Saturday is the first stakes of the Hastings Park meet for 2-year-old fillies. Six horses have been entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race.
Lil' Irish Annie looks like the one to beat. She made a strong move to beat Brave Miss by a neck in a six-furlong maiden special weight race June 30, and according to her trainer, Henry Miller Jr., she bled in that race. Miller worked her with Lasix Tuesday, and said she came back clean.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The connections of Startac will find out right away if a change of scenery brings about a change of fortune when their Grade 1-winning colt heads a field of nine entered in Saturday's $150,000 Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park.
Based on the West Coast for most of his career, Startac was trained by Simon Bray, who guided him to 4 wins from 9 starts, including a win in the Grade 1 Secretariat last August. Following that race, the horse was stunningly taken from Bray and given to Laura de Seroux, who ran Startac five times without success.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The prospect of running in a small field for lucrative prize money led to the supplemental entry on Thursday of longshots in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup and the $500,000 Swaps Stakes, both to be run at Hollywood Park on Sunday.
Dig for It, third in the 2001 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and the track record holder over 1 3/16 miles at Hollywood Park, was supplemented to the Gold Cup for $25,000. Gobi Dan, the winner of the California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old males on turf earlier at this meeting, was supplemented to the Swaps for $15,000.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Randy Schulhofer took over the training duties from his father, Scotty, at the beginning of the year, he said he felt a little pressure to continue the winning legacy his Hall of Fame dad had established.
So far, so he has handled the pressure just fine.
MIAMI - The last time trainer Howie Zucker ran a horse at Calder was in 1982. On Saturday, he will return to south Florida with Crafty C.T., the likely favorite in the $400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap.
"If someone told me I'd ever be coming back to Miami to run a horse in the middle of July I'd have said they were crazy," said Zucker, who spent several winters working at Gulfstream Park in the early and mid-1970's. He also spent a couple summers at Calder training a small stable of his own while also running trainer Ron Felix's shed row in the early 1980's.