Sportsman's Park, at least temporarily, is out of the auto racing business it got into only three years ago. Its massive 70,000-seat grandstand, built to accommodate crowds at stock car races, will sit virtually empty during a 46-day Thoroughbred meet that begins Friday. The track is in discussions with neighboring Hawthorne Race Course about a potential merger that could move horse racing away from Sportsman's, perhaps permanently.
The Maryland Jockey Club has canceled the Grade 1 Pimlico Special this year in an effort to make peace with its horsemen.
The elimination of the $600,000 Special, which is normally run one week before Pimlico's other Grade 1 race, the Preakness Stakes, went hand-in-hand with another $175,000 in stakes cuts from the Pimlico meet. Horsemen and the MJC reached agreement on the cuts during negotiations late Tuesday night.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Giant Gentleman's trainer is Brent Sumja. It says so, right there in the past performances for the Santa Anita Handicap. The designation is a partial misnomer, however, and Sumja acknowledges Giant Gentleman's success this winter - he was runner-up in the Malibu and Strub Stakes - is largely because of trainer Jenine Sahadi, who has stabled the 4-year-old horse since mid-December.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The latest proof that jockey Mike Smith has found his niche among the Santa Anita jockeys is his assignments in major stakes this weekend.
Of the four graded stakes on Saturday and Sunday, Smith will have rides in each, including on the likely favorite in Sunday's San Carlos Handicap.
Smith began riding in California full-time last May. Through Sunday, he was seventh in the standings at Santa Anita with 18 wins, three of which have come in stakes. He may add to that stakes tally this weekend.
ARCADIA, Calif. - For a month, jockey Alex Solis has been eager for another chance to ride Carinae.
Carinae was third in her United States debut in an allowance race on the hillside turf course on Feb. 1, but probably should have won. She was blocked through much of the stretch and beaten only 1 1/2 lengths.
Solis will have his chance for redemption in Friday's $100,000 La Habra Stakes at Santa Anita when Carinae starts against 11 other 3-year-old fillies over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Jim Bond said Wednesday that Donn Handicap winner Mongoose will not run in Sunday's New Orleans Handicap.
Earlier this week, Bond, who is based at Payson Park in Florida, said he was leaning toward putting Mongoose on a plane bound for New Orleans to run in the Handicap, but Bond said a small amount of mucus was detected in Mongoose's upper respiratory system after a work on Monday and that the trip was off.
Sportsman's track surface may arrive on a truck, but everyone seems to love it.
The racetrack disappears during the summer, but, as has been the case for most of its two years of use, the surface is drawing strong reviews from area horsemen.
"It's been a very good track," said trainer Frank Kirby, who typically has strong Sportsman's meets. "It's probably even better this year because we've had good weather."
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Coyote Lakes, who showed a new dimension coming from nine lengths back to win last weekend's Waquoit Stakes at Suffolk Downs, may be heading west for the $400,000 San Juan Capistrano Invitational at Santa Anita in April.
Although Coyote Lakes is only 1 for 10 on turf, trainer Bruce Levine believes the 1 3/4-mile distance of the Grade 2 San Juan Capistrano could play in his favor. Coyote Lakes, an 8-year-old gelding, is a two-time winner of the Gallant Fox Handicap, run at 1 5/8 miles on the dirt.
ALBANY, Calif. - Sixty-four horses were entered for Golden Gate's Friday card after a talked-about boycott by horsemen over worker's compensation insurance did not materialize.
Friday's co-features at Golden Gate Fields had six and nine entrants when entries were taken Wednesday.
Six older fillies and mares will compete in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race on the turf in the second race. Nine older fillies and mares, including a Jerry Hollendorfer-trained entry, will compete in a six-furlong allowance race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Ken McPeek was in good spirits on Wednesday morning, and well he should have been after watching his two Kentucky Derby contenders, , turn in strong works over the fast Gulfstream Park racetrack.
"There are no jockey changes today," McPeek quipped after Harlan's Holiday breezed five-eighths in 59.20 seconds under his new rider, Edgar Prado, and Repent went the same distance in 59.80 seconds with his new pilot, Jerry Bailey, aboard.