JAMAICA, N.Y. - The day began with snow squalls. But, that wasn't the strangest thing that happened Saturday at Aqueduct.
In an oddly run race, John Little - who seemed the potential main speed in the six-horse field - rallied from fourth place and outfinished Windsor Castle in a stirring stretch duel to win the $200,000, Grade 3 Excelsior Breeders' Cup Handicap by a neck. Windsor Castle, who made a short lead in midstretch, finished second, 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Ground Storm.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Azeri, a maiden winner just five months ago, won her second straight Grade 1 race Saturday when she rallied to win the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park by 1 3/4 lengths over Affluent. It was three-quarters of a length back in third to Miss Linda.
Azeri ($4) hopped out at the start, then sat off pacesetter Miss Linda in fourth early in the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares. She moved up around the turn, overtook the leaders in the stretch, and powered home, covering the distance in 1:42.60.
OLDSMAR, Fla. - If you asked Don Rice what it would mean to set a Tampa Bay Downs meet record for wins by a trainer he would probably shuffle his feet, kick at a rock, and mumble something humble and self-deprecating.
But the fact remains that sometime soon, barring fire, flood, or pestilence, Rice will break the meet mark of wins by a trainer, which is 40 and has stood for almost 20 years.
Through last Tuesday, Rice had won 38 races from 158 starts, leaving him two wins shy of tying the record set by Fred Warren at the 1982-83 meet. The meet ends May 5.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Front-running Platel held off U.S. invader Miss City Halo to capture the $140,750 Star Shoot Stakes at Woodbine Saturday.
Platel was away alertly in this six-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies and set quick fractions of 21.97 and 44.52 seconds. Favored Miss City Halo closed from three lengths back on the turn, but came up a neck short. Lady Shari was another 6 3/4 lengths back in third in the seven-horse field.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Southern California invader National Park seemed to outclass the field in Saturday's $100,000 Grand Prairie Turf Challenge at Lone Star Park. But the 9-10 favorite in the field of 11 3-year-olds had to summon all his reserves to rally in the closing strides for a three-quarter-length victory.
Trained by Bob Hess for the Fog City Stable, National Park ($3.80) covered a mile on a turf course labeled "good" in 1:41.17.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The last time the red-and-yellow silks of Fusao Sekiguchi were carried in a horse-race in Kentucky was May 2000, when Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby.
On Friday, as Keeneland Race Course opened its 16-day spring meet before an ontrack crowd of 14,879, Sekiguchi was the winning owner in the feature race, the $100,000 Transylvania Stakes.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Dat You Miz Blue and Maddie May have been two of the better New York-bred female sprinters for the last three-plus years. Somehow, they have crossed paths only once, a three-length victory by Maddie May in the 1999 Maid of the Mist Stakes.
Sunday, the two 5-year-old mares meet again, when Maddie May will attempt to run down Dat You Miz Blue in the $75,000 Broadway Handicap at Aqueduct. Dat You Miz Blue, trained by Jimmy Jerkens, won this seven-furlong race a year ago and is the 123-pound highweight for Sunday's renewal.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The first four finishers in the 2001 Jacques Cartier Stakes - Wake at Noon, Exciting Story, Olympian, and Mr. Epperson - will meet again at Woodbine in Sunday's running, worth $132,625.
Wake at Noon earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure (113) in Canada last year after taking the six-furlong Jacques Cartier over a closing Exciting Story. He won just one other race on the year, but was a bang-up second in two graded stakes in the U.S., the True North Handicap at Belmont and the Philadelphia Park Breeders' Cup Handicap.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In other circumstances, Officer might have faced the same question this weekend as Santa Anita Derby favorites Came Home and Mayakovsky - how far can he run?
But Officer has not raced in nearly four months. So the question is not how far he can run, but whether he can still run fast. A brilliant 2-year-old, Officer makes his first start as a 3-year-old in the $100,000 Zany Tactics for California-breds Sunday at Santa Anita, race 3 on a card that includes the Grade 3 Las Cienegas Handicap for filly-mare turf sprinters.
CALGARY, Alberta - Delta Epsilon and Harbour Ice head a field of nine in the seventh race on Sunday's program.
The half-mile race carries a $12,000 purse and is restricted to 4-year-olds.
The co-favorites drop in for a $15,000 claiming price, perhaps surprising some who were looking for a soft spot to open their campaign.
Delta Epsilon drew the rail and will receive support following a
3-year-old campaign in which he was competitive against allowance and high-level claimers, including Fancy As and Sixthirtyjoe.