INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When Tracemark joined trainer Craig Dollase's stable at the start of the year, it did not seem likely that the gelding would be running in important 3-year-old stakes by the spring.
Dollase was just hoping Tracemark would win a race. Five months later, Tracemark has done so much more. He won the California Derby at Bay Meadows and finished second in the Grade 3 Lone Star Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Handicappers will have their work cut out for them as they sort through the past performances of an evenly matched field of grass runners in Friday's featured eighth race on the sunset racing card.
Twelve older males drew into the main body of the race, plus there's one also eligible, Man From Wicklow. There are three main track only horses, Top Bunk, Pleasant Breeze, and U. S. Gold.
The allowance race, which carries a $56,000 purse, will be run at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf. Post time is 6:36 p.m. Eastern.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Too Scarlet, a winner of 7 of 9 starts, tackles graded company for the first time in her career in Saturday's $300,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park.
The Grade 1 Phipps, formerly the Hempstead, hasn't come up too tough and Too Scarlet's trainer, Kristina Dupps, is hoping that works in her filly's favor.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - With a court action taken Monday, Sportsman's Park officially removed itself from the disputed $1 million bonus War Emblem earned by winning the Illinois and Kentucky Derbies.
Sportsman's attorney, George Lalich, filed a "Complaint for Interpleader" with the United States district court in Chicago, asking the court to determine how the $1 million should be distributed. Lalich also deposited the $1 million into the registry of the court for disbursement after a ruling on the matter.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Right Angle was claimed for $25,000 at Santa Anita on April 12 by a three-man partnership. They are shooting for a big prize if Right Angle wins his comeback in a $48,000 allowance race for California-breds over 6 1/2 furlongs at Hollywood Park on Friday night. A win would give the partners their investment back - and a little more.
"That would be a wish come true for us," said Mike Marlow, who trains Right Angle for the partnership of John Barker, Phil Daniels, and Rick Starr.
If you like turf racing and big fields, then you should love Colonial Downs.
The short-season track in Virginia, located midway between Richmond and Williamsburg, begins its sixth season Friday with a nine-race card typical of what it plans to offer. All nine races are on the 180-foot wide Secretariat Turf Course, the widest in the nation.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It almost seems like two cards in one.
The spate of slow entry days ended at Arlington when 99 horses were entered for Friday's nine-race program, an average of 11 horses per race.
Besides quantity, there is variety and quality, specifically the eighth race, a second-level allowance sprint at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Nine were entered in the race, including a Louie Roussel-trained entry, but the focus rests squarely on Trickey Trevor, who seeks to win his third race without a defeat.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Even as he was presiding over Mystery Giver's rapid development this winter at Fair Grounds, trainer Richie Scherer knew he was in for trouble. Mystery Giver is an Illinois-bred turf horse, just like Minor Wisdom, who also wintered at Fair Grounds with Scherer. The difference is that Minor Wisdom is a permanent member of Scherer's stable, while Mystery Giver was only on loan.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Tim Hills said he has been up to Canada only once before - for a wedding - but on Sunday it will be strictly business when he saddles Joe's Son Joey in the Nearctic Stakes at Woodbine.
The Nearctic Stakes is a Grade 2 race with a purse of $250,000 Canadian, which is approximately $162,000 American.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Brothers Ross and Vito Armata will have more in common than their family ties when their paths cross in this year's Queen's Plate.
The Armatas, who both have been training horses at Woodbine since the early 1980's, will each be saddling their second Plate starters in Sunday's $1 million showpiece for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.
And, even more to the point, both will be hoping for much better results than they experienced in their first Plate appearance.