SAN MATEO, Calif. - There is room to debate whether or not A B Noodle is the best - or will be the best - 3-year-old filly in northern California.
But there is no denying that A B Noodle, who meets five rivals in a maiden one-mile turf race at Bay Meadows on Thursday, has made her mark in northern California racing as one of the strangest losers ever.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - A well-matched crop of 3-year-olds this season coupled with an a new date on the calendar could help the Grade 3, $500,000, 1 1/8-mile Lone Star Derby draw the largest field in its history when it is run for the sixth time May 11.
AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs will raise purses an average of 7 percent, retroactive to the beginning of the meeting, track president Ron Crockett said Tuesday. The reason for the increase is an upsurge in business, Crockett said.
Crockett noted that the increase restores Emerald's purses to the level of before May 30, 2001, when the purses were cut by about 7 percent.
Total wagering is up 21 percent from last year, to an average of $1,158,413 per day, through the first seven days of the meeting.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Belterra, the Unbridled filly who recently underwent minor throat surgery, will not run Friday in the Kentucky Oaks, trainer Carl Nafzger said Tuesday morning.
"We just didn't have enough time," said Nafzger. "Not enough time to prepare her the right way. To run would not have been fair to the filly."
Belterra, who went unbeaten in three starts at 2, underwent surgery for an entrapped epiglottis two days after finishing third in the Ashland Stakes at Keeneland and had worked one time since then. She galloped Tuesday morning at Churchill.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Winners in the various Hall of Fame categories for 2002 were announced Tuesday morning in the Churchill Downs press box. The winners were:
Contemporary Male Horse - Cigar.
Contemporary Female Horse - Serena's Song.
Horse of Yesteryear - Noor.
Trainer - Grover "Bud" Delp.
Jockey - Jack Westrope.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There were plenty of jitters Monday morning at Churchill Downs, and not just from the coffee. Derby Week began with workouts from 10 horses with designs on Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby, including two who may be bumped from the field because more than 20 horses are expected to be entered on Wednesday. Trainers of eight of the horses watched nervously, solely because it was their horse's final work prior to the Derby, and two trainers had the added concern of wondering if their horses will get in.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The two holes in Bobby Frankel's resume used to be the Breeders' Cup and the Kentucky Derby. He took care of one last fall, when after a record 38 defeats without a victory, he finally won a Breeders' Cup race, with Squirtle Squirt in the Sprint.
On Saturday, Frankel, a Hall of Fame trainer, will have a chance to fill in that last blank. He will send out Medaglia d'Oro, a gifted but lightly raced colt who comes off a second-place
CALGARY, Alberta - Dance Me Free, Alberta's champion juvenile colt of 2001, scored a one-length victory over Sweet Drummer here on Saturday to assume the role of favorite for the May 11 President's Handicap.
Dance Me Free was in tight quarters along the backstretch, and jockey Stephan Heiler found himself with a handful of horse and nowhere to go at the quarter pole. But Heiler squeezed the colt through a small opening entering the final turn and Dance Me Free, the 3-5 favorite, took dead aim on the pacesetting Sweet Drummer.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Harold Barroby was the leading trainer at Hastings Park last year, and Steve Bryant finished first in 2000. After three days of the current meet, they're tied atop the trainer's standings with three wins apiece, and it appears they have the horses to beat in the feature race this Wednesday, a $50,000 optional race for older sprinters.
Included in the seven-horse field is former stakes winner and 1999 B.C. Derby runner-up Yaletown, who missed all of 2001 with injury.