CICERO, Ill. - Hail the Chief set a fast pace on a dull racetrack, but still had plenty left and won the Grade 3, $200,000 National Jockey Club Handicap by 11 1/4 lengths.
On the surface, the result will look typical for a Sportsman's track that usually promotes inside speed. But Saturday, Sportsman's played fair and slow, and the 47.73-second half-mile split Hail the Chief set was very quick for a nine-furlong race.
From 1981 through 2000, D. Wayne Lukas had at least one horse in each year's Kentucky Derby. Lukas missed the Derby last year, and it appeared as if he might watch the race from the sidelines again. But Proud Citizen's runaway victory in last Saturday's Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland put Lukas right back where he is accustomed to be on the first Saturday in May.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Belterra, one of the top contenders for the May 3 Kentucky Oaks, underwent corrective throat surgery after finishing third in her last start, but is expected to run in the Oaks.
"She's come back just the way we'd hoped," said Carl Nafzger, who trains Belterra for Bob Manfuso.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Smoked Em is headed to Kentucky. But only temporarily.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said Monday that Smoked Em, winner of last Saturday's Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico, will most likely make his next start in the $500,000 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park on May 11. He will ship to Kentucky on Thursday and train at Churchill Downs while Pletcher is there to get Wild Horses ready for the Kentucky Derby.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Low-profile trainer Alex Paszkeicz has the ability to light up the tote board, especially in turf races.
He has two chances - with Califo and Sweet Bimbo - to do his thing Wednesday at Bay Meadows, which switches to a 1 p.m. first post.
Califo will run in the day's co-feature, a 1 1/16-mile $25,000 claimer for older horses on the turf. Long-time maiden Sweet Bimbo will run in a one-mile $32,000 maiden claimer for fillies and mares on the turf.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Negotiations between Hollywood Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California over the distribution of revenue from phone bets had not reached a deal by late Monday.
The Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting begins on Wednesday and an agreement must be in place for advance deposit wagering to occur.
The two sides agreed to terms for bets placed in California, but had yet to reach an agreement on bets placed in other states on California races, according to John Van de Kamp, president of the TOC.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The 90-day, 2002 Gulfstream Park meeting concludes Wednesday, ending the longest and one of the most controversial meets in the track's 58-year history.
Wednesday's card consists of nine races, seven of which will be run under allowance conditions. Racing on the south Florida circuit moves to Calder Race Course on Friday.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jason Lumpkins tied a Bay Meadows record by riding six winners Sunday, joining Russell Baze as the only rider to win six twice at Bay Meadows.
Baze holds the northern California record of seven winners in a day, set April 16, 1992.
Lumpkins became the seventh rider in Bay Meadows history to ride six winners in one day last May 19. Johnny Adams (1938), Johnny Longden (1947), Bill Shoemaker (1950), Ralph Neves (1951), Bill Harmatz (1954), and Baze (1984 and 1999) are the other riders with six wins in a day at Bay Meadows.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the early weeks of the Santa Anita meeting in January, Ringaskiddy was eligible to be claimed for $80,000. On Sunday, he won the meeting's richest turf race, the $400,000 .
The upset marked the richest win for owners Leonard Scofield and Juan Garcia, who also trains.
Garcia credited a ground-saving and patient ride from jockey Eddie Delahoussaye for the victory.
