ELMONT, N.Y. - An extremely eventful running of the $105,100 Meadowbrook, a steeplechase race at Belmont Park on Thursday, yielded a 50-1 winner, Sharp Face.
Ten horses started in the Grade 1 Meadowbrook, but only five crossed the finish line. Storm Touch, Equistar, and Mcdynamo fell at fences. Yonder was pulled up and didn't complete the 2 1/2-mile jump race, which featured 12 jumps. Dixie's Crown left the course.
None of the riders or horses were seriously injured.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Streakin Rob certainly didn't get to strut his stuff here in last Saturday's Plate Trial, ending a distant 10th in the field of 11.
But Jim Day, who trains Streakin Rob for Rob Cudney and Allan Kent, will wheel the gelding right back in Saturday's Victoria Park in an effort to right his course to the June 23 Queen's Plate.
"The plan was for him to have a couple of starts - decent races - then go forward to the Queen's Plate," said Day.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ginger Gold take on all comers on the lead as the favorite in Saturday's $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks, formerly the Canadian Oaks.
The 47th running of the 1 1/8-mile race has drawn 10 Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies, including sharp contenders Gonetofarr and Mulrainy.
Ginger Gold won the Sovereign Award as champion 2-year-old filly in 2001 on the strength of her three stakes victories, which include a 4 1/2-length triumph in the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Several days after the Kentucky Derby, Steve Asmussen told fellow trainer Bob Baffert: "You probably did me a favor. All I would have done was chase."
The reference was to Baffert's widely criticized move of entering, then scratching, Danthebluegrassman from the May 4 Derby, thereby preventing the Asmussen-trained Windward Passage from making the Derby field.
With a Triple Crown in the balance Saturday, it is plainly obvious that lots of water has passed under the bridge since that controversy rose and fell.
CHICAGO - It was bad enough when they took Mandy's Gold's graded stakes win away from her last spring. To make matters worse, Mandy's Gold had to be put away for eight months after that, and she still hasn't gotten her graded stakes win.
That situation can be rectified Saturday at Arlington when Mandy's Gold faces a short field in the Grade 3 Chicago Breeders' Cup, a seven-furlong sprint for fillies and mares, 3-years-old and up. The stakes is part of an 11-race card that includes separate pool wagering on the Belmont Stakes.
Based on class and proficiency at the marathon distance of 1 1/2 miles, Cetewayo stands out as the most likely winner of Saturday's $100,000 Greenwood Cup Handicap at Philadelphia Park. But he may not be as much of a lock as he appears at first glance.
Cetewayo has enjoyed a career revival at age 8 for trainer Michael Dickinson. Winless for 15 months after taking the Grade 2 Red Smith Handicap in New York in November 2000, Cetewayo rebounded to win the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Handicap in February. His 107 Beyer Speed Figure also was a career best.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - The top two Ohio-bred females, Ashwood CC, owned by Ashwood Thoroughbreds Inc., and Lady Cherie, owned by M. Y. Stables Inc., head a field of eight fillies and mares in Saturday's $50,000 Merry Time Stakes.
Both horses are multiple stakes winners and are well suited by the 1 1/16-mile distance of this race.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Three-time defending Iowa-bred horse of the year Sure Shot Biscuit looks for his first win of the year when he faces five other statebreds in Saturday's $60,000-added John Wayne Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Sure Shot Biscuit enters the John Wayne on a rare four-race losing streak, but has finished third or better in all three of his 2002 starts for trainer Kelly Von Hemel.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Three-year-old filly Little Out has won two straight races on the dirt - a maiden special weight and an allowance, both convincingly - and for most trainers that would surely earn her a stakes try. Trainer Tim Hills is giving Little Out that stakes debut Saturday in the $50,000 Ocean Hotel Stakes - on the turf.
Chasing War Emblem once was apparently enough for Easyfromthegitgo and Menacing Dennis. After taking a beating in the Preakness three weeks ago, both 3-year-old colts are taking aim at slightly easier company in Saturday's $250,000 Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park.
Easyfromthegitgo, second in the Louisiana Derby and third in the Lexington, earned a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure when he finished a respectable fifth, beaten just 3 1/4 lengths, in the Preakness. His regular rider, Donnie Meche, will ride for trainer Steve Asmussen.