Eclipse Award winning trainer Shug McGaughey underwent triple bypass surgery Thursday morning at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Hospital officials would not release McGaughey's condition, but friends said he was doing well following the lengthy procedure.
"Everything went as expected," Buzz Tenney, McGaughey's longtime assistant trainer, said Thursday afternoon. "He's in recovery now."
Language allowing gambling machines at Indiana racetracks is expected to be stripped from a state budget bill while in a Senate committee, state legislators said on Thursday.
The language would have allowed the gambling machines at Hoosier Park and a yet-to-be-built track in northeastern Indiana. The full House passed the budget bill on June 3 and sent it to the Senate Finance Committee, which scheduled two days of hearings on the bill for Thursday and Friday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Yes, it's a little strange that a June weekend at Arlington goes by without a stakes. But Saturday's featured eighth race is close enough.
Eight fillies and mares face off in this high-end turf allowance, which is written for horses who haven't won more than $9,805 twice since Feb. 1.
It's a good spot for stakes-level horses without a specific stakes race on the agenda this month, horses like Golden Antigua and Twilight Tryst.
Five of the 10 sprinters in Saturday's $100,000 Wilmington Handicap at Delaware Park have recorded a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure within their last three starts. Handicappers must decide whether they should favor pure speed or a horse who likes to wait for the pace to collapse.
The battle for the early lead in the six-furlong Wilmington figures to be fought among Rusty Spur, True Passion, and He's a Knockout.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Seven fillies will run in Saturday's $55,000-added Time to Leave Stakes, the first 2-year-old stakes of the year at Bay Meadows.
Trainer Ed Moger Jr. will saddle Smokin Tempo for longtime owners Curt and Lila Lanning.
A $30,000 yearling purchase at last year's Barretts sale, Smokin Tempo won her debut in a $40,000 claimer at Hollywood Park on May 23.
"Purses are better down there," said Moger, who often takes young horses to Southern California. "That was only a $40,000 claimer, but she got $12,600 for the win."
ALTOONA, Iowa - Private Horde and Vito Corleone are rematched in a field of six in the $60,000 Prairie Mile for 3-year-olds Saturday night at Prairie Meadows.
Private Horde and Vito Corleone finished one-two here in the $50,000 Golden Circle Stakes at six furlongs on April 27, with Private Horde scoring a four-length victory.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Last year's Michigan horse of the year, Born to Dance, heads a field of eight 3-year-old statebred fillies in the $45,000 Regret Stakes at six furlongs Saturday.
Last year, Born to Dance dominated her statebred stakes rivals, but she has new competition this year from Bad Thing and Baklava.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The way John Kimmel sees it, Affirmed Dancer should be undefeated entering Sunday's $100,000 Sands Point Handicap at Belmont Park.
But a difficult trip in what turned out to be a difficult weekend for the trainer, resulted in a second-place finish for Affirmed Dancer in the May 25 Revidere Stakes at Monmouth Park.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Suances, who returned to top form in April with a front-running win in the Grade 2 San Francisco Breeders' Cup, launches his summer campaign Saturday at Lone Star Park in the $250,000 Dallas Turf Cup, a race his connections hope will serve as a stepping-stone to the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 17.
The Turf Cup, a handicap run over 1 1/8 miles, is the first leg of a national pick three, along with the Grade 2 Hollywood Breeders' Cup Oaks and the Grade 1 Stephen Foster.