JAMAICA, N.Y. - Trainer James Bond has waited nearly 28 years to get to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby with a horse. Another two weeks won't matter.
While Medaglia d'Oro and Sunday Break, the second- and third-place finishers in Saturday's Wood Memorial, were scheduled to be flown Tuesday from New York to Louisville for the May 4 Kentucky Derby, Bond said he would keep Wood winner in New York for the next two weeks.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - In the end, Bobby Frankel still might consider the Kentucky Derby for Royal Gem. After all, with two spectacular come-from-behind wins in as many starts, Royal Gem has accomplished more than some other horses whose connections have been overcome by Derby fever.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park had gains in attendance and handle during its 52-day meet that ended Saturday.
Daily attendance for the meet averaged 11,980, a six percent increase over the 11,251 average in 2001. Average handle was $4.8 million, up 11 percent from $4.3 million a year ago. The biggest growth was offtrack, as outlets handled $3.7 million a day on races from Oaklawn, compared with $3.3 million a day in 2001.
CALGARY, Alberta - Alberta crowned its 2001 champions at Stampede Park Saturday, with trainer R.K. "Red" Smith there to accept the Horse of the Year award for Fancy As, who captured the imagination of Western Canada fans with eight victories and $431,941 in earnings in a memorable 3-year-old campaign.
Fancy As, a unanimous selection for the horse of the year, also was named winner of the 3-year-old male division. Smith took home a third trophy, as leading trainer.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Trainer Mark Hennig has plotted the next round of stakes action for his harem of handicap fillies and mares, and it begins this weekend when Raging Fever headlines a short field expected for the Grade 3, $150,000 Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup Handicap at Aqueduct.
Raging Fever, coming off a dominant victory in the Distaff Breeders' Cup Handicap on March 30, was assigned top weight of 121 pounds for the Bed o' Roses, run at one mile. John Velazquez will ride.
Last Saturday, breezed an easy half-mile in 51.02 seconds at Belmont Park.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A frightening injury and bad racing luck have set back the racing career of Suances in this country.
On Wednesday at Santa Anita, he can put those misfortunes behind him with a victory in a $70,000 allowance race over a mile on turf.
Trained by Darrell Vienna, Suances is part of an entry with Ferrari in a field of seven.
This is the final week of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting. Closing day is Sunday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tim Pinfield, who trained the sprint star Big Jag, said on Sunday he has accepted a position to open a stable in Singapore and is in the process of disbanding his California stable.
Pinfield will leave Santa Anita for Singapore in mid-May and begin training in June. He said he was approached by officials from the Singapore Turf Club earlier this year, asking him to relocate.
Pinfield, 35, expects to train up to 70 horses in Singapore for a variety of owners, including the Lucky Stable, one of that country's leading owners.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The closing of Hialeah Park and the extension of the 2002 Gulfstream Park meet through April 24 has certainly had both positive and negative effects on the local industry this season. Perhaps the biggest plus is the fact that south Florida horsemen are still racing for nearly twice as much money daily as they would during Hialeah's traditional spring meeting.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The big story at Bay Meadows on Saturday was the winning move jockey Jason Lumpkins put on with Tracemark to win the California Derby.
But what he did after the day's final race left a deep impression as well, although few in the exiting crowd were even aware of it.
Lumpkins rode Clever Dorcas, a 3-year-old filly, in a $16,000 claimer at one mile on the turf two races after winning with Tracemark. Clever Dorcas was eased in the race, which was won by entrymate Capital Growth.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Who said D. Wayne Lukas is yesterday's news? He has averaged one win a day at the seven-day-old Keeneland spring meet, putting him on a pace that could land him his 13th training title here.
Lukas won three races here Sunday, including his first Commonwealth Breeders' Cup, with Orientate. With nine days left in the 16-day meet, he had won seven races with his first 13 starters.