ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Allen Jerkens doesn't think Dust Me Off's upset of highly regarded Belterra in the Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes at Gulfstream Park should go down as the highlight of her career.
"Her career shouldn't have to end with the Bonnie Miss," said Jerkens, whose filly also beat subsequent Nassau County winner Nonsuch Bay in the March race.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The city of Louisville has tentatively agreed to a deal with Churchill Downs that will save the track about $250,000 in taxes per year for the next 30 years. The deal should ease the financial uncertainty that recently precluded the company's board from taking expected action on the second phase of the ongoing $130 million renovation of its flagship track.
On paper, Urban Dancer certainly looked like the weaker part of an entry for Tuesday's $63,100 at Delaware Park. But when trainer Tim Ritchey decided to scratch Madame Roar and allowed Urban Dancer to run, the betting public wasn't fooled.
Urban Dancer, bet down to 8-5 in a field of 11 filly and mare sprinters, drew off to a three-length victory in the six-furlong overnight stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - People keep coming up to Bob Holthus and congratulating him, and not because he turned 68 on Monday. It was 50 years ago this week that Holthus took out a trainer's license in his native Nebraska, and more than 2,500 winners later, the combination of his longevity and success are the subject of considerable admiration among his many friends, fans, and colleagues.
"You had to be 18 to get a trainer's license in Nebraska then," said Holthus. "I got it a couple days after I turned 18."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Mizzen Mast won both the Malibu Stakes and Strub Stakes during Santa Anita's meeting to emerge as one of the leading older horses in the country. He has been absent for more than four months, but he is nearing a return.
Bobby Frankel, who trains Mizzen Mast, said he is pointing the colt to Del Mar's Pacific Classic on Aug. 25, a race Frankel has won six times. He envisions Mizzen Mast having one prep race, in the San Diego Handicap on Aug. 4.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Shug McGaughey has won the Molly Pitcher Handicap four times in the last 14 years, more than any other trainer in the race's storied 56-year history. McGaughey has come through Monmouth Park to win the stakes with Hall of Famer Personal Ensign, champion mare Inside Information, Versailles Treaty, and Rare Blend.
Assistant trainer Buzz Tenney, who has been with the stable since 1985, says Atelier compares favorably with Versailles Treaty, who won the Alabama and twice was second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, and Rare Blend.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - John Ross couldn't hide his disappointment over Shaws Creek's sixth-place finish in last Sunday's Queen's Plate.
, owned by the Jam-Jar Racing Stable of Bud and Jackie Reynolds, was highly regarded off his score in the Plate Trial but never got into the hunt for jockey Jake Barton after breaking from the outside post in the field of 13.
"I'm getting tired of winning all the battles but never winning the wars," said Ross, who trained Catahoula Parish when he captured the 1999 Trial and finished seventh in the Plate for the Jam-Jar outfit.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Northern California has been a hotbed for talented apprentice riders for the past seven months, with Kevin Krigger and Omar Figueroa both making big splashes before heading for Southern California.
But quietly, Francisco Duran, who won his first race aboard Nice Calves on Dec. 30, has begun to make a name for himself as well.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - From his victory on Friday in the NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park to the win with his final mount aboard Came Home in Sunday's Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park, Chris McCarron provided racing fans with a weekend of memorable moments.
McCarron, 47, retired with 7,141 winners, sixth on the all-time list, and mounts that earned a record $264,351,679.
