INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Milwaukee Brew, who would have been favored Sunday in the Grade 2 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, will skip that race and start on June 15 in the Grade 2 Californian.
"[Owner Frank Stronach] wants to save him for the Breeders' Cup, he doesn't want to run him too much," trainer Bobby Frankel said.
Milwaukee Brew has raced twice this year, most recently on March 2 when he won the Santa Anita Handicap.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Thunderello showed trainer Scott Lake so much promise last year, he said, that it almost didn't matter that he and owner Charles Mady turned down a $2 million offer only days before the colt tore the suspensory ligament in his left foreleg.
"It's scary how good I think he could be," Lake said last September. `"Richard Migliore told me he's one of the best 2-year-olds he's been on in his life."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Xtra Heat, the speedy sprinter voted 3-year-old filly champion of 2001, will most likely make her next start in Sunday's $150,000, Grade 2 Genuine Risk Handicap at Belmont Park, trainer John Salzman said Tuesday.
Salzman said his other option is the $200,000 Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap at Pimlico against males on Preakness Day, but added he would prefer to keep Xtra Heat running against her own sex for now. Salzman said he needed only to review the weights for both races before totally committing.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - With each step he takes in his rehabilitation workouts, with each sentence he speaks, with each smile that crosses his face, Jose Arriaga's recovery continues.
Arriaga, 25, nearly died after being thrown from his mount in a race at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, Calif., on April 4. His life was saved by a fortuitous set of circumstances and four hours of brain surgery.
But Arriaga's superb physical condition and will to live also helped save him, doctors say.
Tossed and clipped
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - There could be a mad dash for the lead Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Lone Star Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race that is expected to attract speed horses Danthebluegrassman, Cappuchino, Smoked Em, Wiseman's Ferry, Holdthehelm, and Jeremiah Jack.
The race will be the first trip at nine furlongs for Jeremiah Jack, whose biggest career win came as a front-runner in the $150,000 Sam Houston Texan Juvenile last December at Sam Houston Race Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Danthebluegrassman, the colt who was scratched Saturday morning from the Kentucky Derby after being a surprise entry three days beforehand, breezed an easy half-mile in 50.60 seconds Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. The colt was scheduled to be flown Wednesday to Texas for Saturday's Lone Star Derby.
Sal Gonzalez Jr. was aboard Danthebluegrassman for the work, after which the colt showed no ill effects from the muscle cramps, or "tying up," that precluded him from running in the Kentucky Derby.
"He's fine," said longtime stable employee Mick Jenner.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Sportsman's Park, which concluded a 46-day meet Saturday with mixed results, might have hosted races for the last time.
A deal that would merge operations between the National Jockey Club, which operates the meets at Sportsman's Park, and Hawthorne Race Course could come to fruition in the next month, according to principals at both tracks. If the tracks merge, the NJC would stage future meets at Hawthorne, which sits on property adjacent to Sportsman's.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Armando Lage believes the first start may be the most important of a horse's career, so he tries to do everything he can to prepare.
That may explain why he shows an impressive $3.72 flat-bet return with debut runners.
Lage enters two colts in Bay Meadows's Thursday feature, a 4 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds: Big Money Maker and Historic Moment. Historic Moment, owned by Golden Eagle Farm, will be coupled in the wagering with Sweet Dreamer, who is trained by Chuck Jenda.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Last Oct. 27, just 46 days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center rocked New York City and a nation, nearby Belmont Park hosted the Breeders' Cup, Thoroughbred racing's richest event. An international crowd of 52,987 gathered on a crisp autumn afternoon, and the event went off flawlessly.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The Grade 3 Westchester Handicap isn't the only notable race on Wednesday's opening-day card at Belmont Park.
A seven-furlong classified allowance race earlier on the card drew only five, but it marks the seasonal debut of Pegasus Handicap winner Volponi as well as the long overdue return of 2000 Nashua winner Ommadon. Add the regally bred Polish Miner and the red-hot Cherokee Beau and you have quite an intriguing affair. Tarek, runner-up in the 2001 Swale Stakes, completes the quintet.