LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Early last month at Keeneland, Carl Nafzger ran not one, not two, but three fillies in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes.
The Ashland was won by Take Charge Lady, but Nafzger was all smiles afterward because of how well his fillies had performed: Take the Cake finished second, Belterra was third, and Cordoba was fifth.
Since then, however, the promise of the Ashland has yielded little but disappointment.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Exclusive Run, a nominee to Saturday's Grade 3 Eclipse Handicap, will run instead in Friday's ninth race at Woodbine, a $75,300 allowance.
An accomplished group of seven older runners has been assembled for the seven-furlong dash, which is for nonwinners of $45,180 other than maiden or claiming in 2002.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A year ago, very little was going right for Royal Ambition. In February 2001, he clipped heels and fell in a race in Dubai. Three months later, he was disqualified from second to third in a maiden race at Hollywood Park.
The highlight of the year was a win in an allowance race at Hollywood Park in July, even though Royal Ambition was still eligible for a maiden race at the time.
Friday night, the 4-year-old Royal Ambition returns to the site of his victory in a $51,000 allowance race over 1 1/16 miles on turf, facing six others.
CALGARY, Alberta - Little Lolitta, Alberta's champion 3-year-old filly of 2001, won the M.R. Jenkins Memorial by nine lengths under confident handling from jockey Perry Winters at Stampede Park on Sunday.
Making her seasonal debut for trainer Don Gilkyson, Little Lolitta toyed with six other older fillies and mares after putting away the pacesetting Brighton Belle midway down the backstretch.
"I tapped her once on the shoulder turning for home - she did it all on her own," said Winters.
AUBURN, Wash. - Sir Radar will attempt to step up and repeat when he heads a field of six older sprinters, each eligible to be claimed for $25,000 or $20,000, in Friday's six-furlong feature at Emerald Downs.
Friday's feature is for horses who have never won two races, but maiden races and claiming races for $16,000 or less are not considered for eligibility. Sir Radar, who has won 4 of 16 starts for part-owner and trainer Claude Gibson, gets in because his first win came against maidens, and his next three came against $12,500, $10,000, and $16,000 company.
CHICAGO - Bobby Springer's hand is getting tired from answering his cell phone. "What's it like to sell the Kentucky Derby winner?" people want to know. "By the way, who are you?"
It wouldn't be fair if the questions got inextricably intertwined. The 55-year-old Springer has been training horses for more than 30 years. He's had some good ones before, and despite losing the best one he ever had, War Emblem, only three weeks before the colt won the Kentucky Derby, he feels confident other chances will come.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Bay Monster and Holdthehelm are two colts with the credentials to take a significant step forward Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park.
Both were at a disadvantage in their last starts, coming off of six week layoffs for the Grade 2, $500,000 Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles April 13, but are on more regular schedules for the Lone Star Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Buddha, the Wood Memorial winner who turned up lame and was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the day before the race, could resume training by the weekend and will be pointed to the Dwyer Stakes on July 7, trainer James Bond said.
Bond said the injury was just "a bad, bad bruise" of Buddha's left front foot. On Monday, Buddha underwent a nuclear bone scan at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic, which revealed nothing. Buddha was vanned from Lexington to Bond's Saratoga barn on Wednesday.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A spring snowstorm greeted 2,432 customers at Assiniboia Downs last Sunday when the 2002 meeting opened.
Trainer Ardell Sayler and jockey Rohan Singh began their quest for a third consecutive defense of their respective local titles by winning two races each Sunday. But Jacques DesAutels had the best day of the jockeys, winning four of the eight races.