GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - This is war, or at least that's what it looks like on paper Wednesday night at Lone Star Park.
With only five days of racing left at the meet and a training title hanging in the balance, Steve Asmussen and Cole Norman will start horses in eight of the nine races on the card.
Both have top contenders in the featured eighth race, a one-mile conditioned allowance that drew the Asmussen-trained entry of Heffelfinger and Rockies, and Norman's Remember the Party.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - T J's Lucky Moon was back in the spotlight here Monday, recording his first workout since his upset in the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate on June 23.
And although he is unlikely to scare off much of the opposition for Fort Erie's July 21 Prince of Wales, the 1 3/16-mile race that is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, T J's Lucky Moon could prove his Plate win was no fluke.
ELMONT, N.Y. - New York Racing Association officials acknowledged there was a problem with Belmont's main track last Friday morning, and they acted quickly to rectify it. But they took exception to comments that an unfair track played a role in the outcome of Saturday's $500,000 Suburban Handicap.
E Dubai went gate to wire to win the Suburban, and was the fifth front-runner of the six dirt races contested on Saturday's card.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Twelve hours after his Godolphin Racing stablemate E Dubai made his mark in the handicap division with a front-running victory in Saturday's Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, the division-leading Street Cry began preparing for the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap on Aug. 3 by working five furlongs in 1:03.25 at Belmont Park.
It was Street Cry's first workout since his runaway victory in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs. Street Cry is 3 for 3 this year including a victory in the Dubai World Cup.
VALLEJO, Calif. - The future of racing at the Solano County Fair may be cloudy, but one thing is clear as the track prepares for opening day Wednesday. The approach for the 2002 meet is positive.
"The most exciting thing is the work we've done to the backstretch, which was in need of improvement," fair general manager Kim Myrman said. "We've made a lot of improvements, and the trainers here have expressed a fairly high level of satisfaction.
"From what I hear from the trainers, the track is in great shape, too."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Dollar Bill, a veteran of the 2001 Triple Crown who has not won a stakes in more than 16 months, will give the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup some national flavor when he makes his California debut next Sunday.
Dollar Bill was added to the field over the weekend after he worked a half-mile in 48.40 seconds on Sunday at Churchill Downs. A winner of 4 of 16 starts and $1,012,546 for owners Gary and Mary West and trainer Dallas Stewart, Dollar Bill will be the lone shipper for the Gold Cup, which is run over 1 1/4 miles, and is expected to draw six starters.
CHICAGO - The Louie Roussel stable is split between younger sales purchases and older reclamation projects. At Arlington, the stable is split down the middle in another way - through Sunday, Roussel was even up at this meet with seven wins and seven losses, a gaudy 50 percent strike rate.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A wise man once said something like, "They don't build statues of critics," with the point being that monuments are made only for people who play in the main arena, not for those who watch.
The saying is pertinent to Jon Court because, ever so briefly in the 1990's, when Court was injured so badly that he thought he might have to give up riding racehorses, he considered a career as a turf writer.
They don't build bobbleheads of turf writers.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - First Lieutenant, second in the Grade 2 Iselin Handicap last year, is gearing up for another summer at the Shore.
First Lieutenant, a 5-year-old trained by Phil Oliver, has always excelled at Monmouth, with three wins in five starts here. He has been working strongly for his 2002 debut, which Oliver said will come in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile on July 27.
"He's training the best he's ever trained," Oliver said. "The Salvator is a tough spot to come back first time out, but he always runs well fresh. He's won three times off an extended layoff."
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Hoovergetthekeys ($45), who has battled problems with quarter cracks and bleeding, made a strong closing move and held off faster-finishing Takin It Deep by a nose to win the $50,110 Alamedan Handicap at the Alameda County Fair on Sunday.
Hoovergetthekeys, who won the Golden Gate Derby and El Camino Real Derby in 2001, had been winless since an $80,000 optional claimer on the turf last Sept. 10 at Bay Meadows. The victory, his fifth in 20 starts, was worth $27,610 to lift his career earnings to 352,120.