ELMONT, N.Y. - Xtra Heat, the defending 3-year-old filly champion, may face her toughest rival to date when she comes to New York for Sunday's $150,000 Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont Park: Allen Jerkens.
Jerkens, the Hall of Fame trainer renowned for upsetting some of the great horses in the sport, will send out Shine Again against Xtra Heat in the six-furlong Genuine Risk.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Hennig always thought highly of Wopping as a 2-year-old, but it wasn't until the filly's 3-year-old debut last month at Gulfstream Park that the rest of us saw why.
On April 11, Wopping romped to a 12 1/2-length victory in a conditioned allowance race at Gulfstream, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Maybe Pat Day should take a shot on the nose more often. Day rode four winners here Wednesday, his first day of action since Derby day, when he suffered what could be a broken nose.
Day's mount in the Churchill Downs Handicap, Dream Run, stumbled badly two steps out of the gate. When Dream Run recovered from his near-fall, his head came up and thwacked an off-balance Day squarely on the nose.
Day, badly dazed, attempted to pull up Dream Run soon thereafter, but the colt would not comply. Dream Run ended up finishing far behind because of the incident.
MIAMI - Castlebrook was the undisputed queen of the local filly handicap division in 2001, winning four stakes at Calder, including the Nancy's Glitter Handicap. But Castlebrook can't rest on those laurels when she takes on five rivals here Saturday in this year's running of the $75,000 Nancy's Glitter, run at 1 1/16 miles.
If Late Carson ships from New York, he will be a solid choice in Saturday's $75,000 Damitrius Stakes at Delaware Park.
But trainer Richard Dutrow has cross-entered Late Carson in the $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap at Belmont Park the same day as the Damitrius. Considering the purse is higher and he would have to face just four rivals in New York as compared with 11 foes at Delaware, Late Carson is more likely to stay home.
Defending world champion Tailor Fit begins his quest for his third world championship in the last four years when he goes for his third consecutive win in the Grade 1, $78,480 MBNA America Oklahoma Challenge at 440 yards Saturday at Remington Park.
Tailor Fit, owned by Betty Jane Burlin and trained by Janet Van Bebber, is starting 2002 with a plan similar to his 2001 championship campaign. Like last year, Tailor Fit is coming off a rest since the Grade 1, $500,000 Champion of Champions in mid-December.
PHOENIX - Odds are that if you told owner/trainer Arlene Phillips her crack mare Nikki's Angel was going to run six furlongs in 1:08.60 in the April 27 Ann Owens Distaff Handicap she would have jumped for joy knowing she had won.
Well, she did win in that fast time, but she wasn't in the spotlight on her own - she dead-heated with the very fast Knoll Lake, 10 lengths clear of the third-place finisher.
Last year's ontrack rivalry between riders Joe Bravo and Eibar Coa at Monmouth Park came to abrupt end when Bravo was injured in a spill. The battle resumes on Saturday when the track opens its doors for its 2002 meet.
Bravo, a winner of eight Monmouth Park riding titles, suffered multiple leg fractures in the July 27 spill. At the time of the accident, Bravo led Coa by one winner. Coa went on to win his first Monmouth Park title and Bravo hung on for third, despite missing more than a month of the meet.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Tom Agosti entered the new Fort Erie season with just five wins in 85 starts from the winter and early spring.
Usually a noted high-percentage trainer, Agosti's 6 percent win average gives the impression that he is floundering. At a similar time last year, Agosti, 44, left the winter meet at Tampa Bay Downs with a hefty win percentage of 24, having scored 10 times in 42 attempts.
Agosti, however, seems very content with his recent achievement. It was his game plan.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Three of the best horses at Assiniboia Downs make their 2002 debuts in Saturday's featured seventh race.
Two-time defending local horse of the year Corporate Shuffle faces older horse for the first time in the five-furlong allowance, which attracted a field of eight.
A 4-year-old son of Diablo, Corporate Shuffle makes his first start for trainer Clayton Gray and will be ridden by Manuel Alicea for the first time. A winner in eight of 11 lifetime starts, Corporate Shuffle breaks from the rail as the 122-pound highweight.