Retama Park near San Antonio will offer 21 stakes worth more than $1 million during its 51-night Thoroughbred meet, from Aug. 2 to Oct. 26.
The $100,000 El Joven and $100,000 La Senorita, two one-mile turf stakes for 2-year-olds, have become the track's signature races, and will again share a program, this year on Aug. 31.
Also on deck is Texas Hall of Fame night Oct. 12, a card of eight stakes designed to complement inductions into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame, located at Retama.
MIAMI - As soon as Sir Bear began to labor and lose contact with the field on the far turn of Saturday's $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup, there was little doubt what had caused the problem.
"He bled," said trainer Ralph Ziadie. "He bled very bad. On a scale of 1 to 10 this was a 12. He's had little trickles in the past and was still able to run through it and finish close. This was far and away the worst yet. I have no answers for why it happened, because it was very cool in Chicago on Saturday."
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Daily Flight goes for her second win in as many local starts Friday, facing six other fillies and mares going 5 1/2 furlongs in a conditioned allowance race.
Daily Flight's main competition will come form Tunangannya, who makes her first start locally, and Lucky Sadie, who finished second in her 2002 bow behind Holly Hollywood, a two-time winner here this year.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Marquis Downs, Saskatchewan's only Thoroughbred racetrack, begins its 2002 meeting Friday with a seven-race evening card.
This year's meet has a slightly new look, with Friday and Saturday nights the only scheduled race days, in order to capitalize on strong group sales in the restaurant. First post is 7:05 p.m.
Gone are the traditional Sunday and holiday afternoon cards, which historically have had low turnouts.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Belmont Stakes will be no piece of cake for War Emblem. Somewhere, an improving 3-year-old is preparing to spoil his Triple Crown bid. The question is, who?
Two potential sleepers are running Thursday at Hollywood Park: Like a Hero and Azillion meet in the $75,000 Alydar, an overnight stakes with obvious ramifications.
"You hate to look too far ahead, but obviously the Belmont is a thought," said Like a Hero's trainer, Beau Greely. "He's by Pleasant Colony; a mile and a half at Belmont would seem to be his thing."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A horse who is racing above his allowance conditions is not necessarily racing over his head. Don't believe it? Tune in this weekend at Hollywood Park, where three logical contenders - each eligible for an easier spot - enter stakes races they are clearly capable of winning. Even if they are in tough.
Cashmina, eligible to a two-other-than allowance, faces Azeri and Affluent on Saturday in the Grade 1 Milady.
Crowned Dancer, a maiden, will be one of the favorites Sunday in the $65,000 Willard Proctor Memorial for 2-year-olds.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Exactly one year ago on May 23, Erica's Smile won her maiden for trainer Jeff Bonde.
She was so impressive that day that she was entered in a stakes race at Hollywood Park and was the morning-line favorite, but was scratched after developing a fever. Two days after the fever was detected, she was diagnosed with pneumonia.
Erica's Smile finally returns to the races Thursday, and appears to be the one to beat in the Bay Meadows feature race, a six-furlong $40,000 optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Congaree on Tuesday morning became a definite for the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap after he worked seven furlongs at his Churchill Downs base. Monday's 1 1/16-mile race will be his first since he finished third in the Grade 1 Jim Dandy at Saratoga last August.
The Lone Star Park Handicap is the richest of seven stakes Monday on a card known as the Lone Star Million Day.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Ken McPeek said he expects to run Take Charge Lady in Saturday's Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs after the filly worked a half-mile in 49.20 seconds here Tuesday morning.
Take Charge Lady, whose three-race win streak was snapped when she finished second as the favorite in the May 3 Kentucky Oaks, was expected to be an overwhelming favorite last Friday in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico. But after being diagnosed with a lung infection, McPeek withdrew her from the race, saying he hoped to run her in the Dogwood instead.
ELMONT, N.Y. - An interesting pair of allowance races, which are part of the pick six, add spice to Thursday's nine-race card at Belmont Park.
The sixth race, worth $50,000, is the 2002 debut for Ransom's Pride, last year's champion 3-year-old filly and turf female among New York-breds. Among Ransom's Pride's five rivals in the third-level allowance is Real Cozzy, who is back on dirt after losing her grass debut earlier this month.