OLDSMAR, Fla. - The meeting at Tampa Bay Downs swings into its final week and while it seems like only yesterday that the horses were parading to the post for the first race on opening day in truth it has been a winter to remember for some and a time others would just as soon forget.
In the "strong and steady" department, silver-haired trainer Don Rice heads the list.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After losing her first 11 starts in the U.S., Eurolink Raindance suddenly has put together back-to-back victories. Friday night at Hollywood Park, the 5-year-old Eurolink Raindance rallied from the back of a five-runner field to score an upset victory in the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap for fillies and mares.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Mick Kinane lost an appeal on Friday in London of a riding suspension and will not be able to ride Johannesburg in next Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Kinane, the European riding sensation, rode Johannesburg to victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
As a result, either Jerry Bailey or possibly Gary Stevens will ride Johannesburg in the 128th Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Stephen Margolis, a longtime assistant trainer, knew he would eventually go out on his own when the time was right. Circumstances dictated that the right time was November 2000.
And now, just 18 months into his training career, Margolis is already in the Kentucky Derby with a live longshot in Request for Parole, who has three wins, three seconds, and a third from eight stakes appearances.
"A lot of guys wait their whole lives to even run in the Derby,'' Margolis said. "I feel fortunate.''
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Since finishing eighth in the Kings Point two years ago, Gander was recognized as New York's Horse of the Year in 2000, picked up checks in several Grade 1 races, and won his first graded race, the Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup, last fall.
On Sunday at Aqueduct, a more accomplished Gander gives the Kings Point Handicap another whirl in his first start in a statebred race since winning the Evan Shipman in July 2000.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainers Steve Specht and Gil Matos are each hoping for better pace scenarios for their horses Sunday when they run in the $55,000-added San Carlos Handicap at Bay Meadows.
Specht wants to see his speedy I'madrifter run freer earlier in the one-mile race than he did in the Grade 2 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gate Fields on March 30. And Matos wants to see his closer Takin It Deep run a little slower early than he did in the same race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - There are better races Sunday than the $250,000 Snow Chief Stakes at Hollywood Park. This is slightly unusual, because the Snow Chief is the richest of 10 races that comprise California Gold Rush Day, a 10-race card exclusively for California-breds.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Friday was like the lull before the storm as far as Kentucky Derby workouts were concerned. None of the 20 horses currently expected to start worked Friday. U. S. S. Tinosa, who still needs two defections to get into the race, breezed seven furlongs in 1:27 over his home base at Bay Meadows before boarding a plane that was scheduled to bring him to Churchill Downs on Saturday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tony D'Amico knows that when Take Charge Lady runs Friday as the likely favorite in the Kentucky Oaks, she will be in far deeper water than in her first three starts this year.
In each of those races, she had very comfortable trips and coasted to easy victories. But that doesn't necessarily mean she won't enjoy another nice trip again.