ARCADIA, Calif. - Werblin is off the Triple Crown trail, a decision that may land him in the winner's circle of a stakes for the first time at Santa Anita on Saturday.
Werblin will be favored in the $75,000 San Pedro Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs, a race he is expected to dominate. On opening day of this meeting, Dec. 26, Werblin won a six-furlong allowance race by a convincing 1 1/2 lengths. He was subsequently beaten in two of the meeting's top races for 3-year-olds.
TORONTO - Phillip (Pudge) Brown, director of racing and racing secretary at Fort Erie, has had his license as a racing official suspended for one year and has been fined $5,000 by the Ontario Racing Commission.
The ORC order, issued Wednesday, said Brown had violated the rules of racing "by permitting horses to be entered or to race that had not been tattooed and fully identified."
The suspension will run from April 1, 2002, to March 31, 2003.
NEW ORLEANS - On the one hand, they have combined to make one start in the last 22 months. On the other, they have combined to win 10 of their 12 career races, and both were Group 1 winners during their former lives as European turf stars.
They are Beat Hollow and Suances, two California-based horses shrouded in mystery who have shipped to New Orleans for a start Sunday in the $700,000 Explosive Bid Handicap.
NEW ORLEANS - When Screen Idol looks around during Saturday's Gentilly Handicap, there will be no Repents, no Easyfromthegitgos. There might not even be a filly named You'llbeinmyheart.
Screen Idol takes a major-league class drop from the Grade 3 Risen Star, where he finished a creditable seventh, into the Gentilly, a $100,000 turf race at Fair Grounds restricted to Louisiana-breds. Screen Idol is the horse to beat in any case, and You'llbeinmyheart, the horse to fear, is not certain to start in the Gentilly, though she was entered for the race Thursday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A new Woodbine Entertainment Group rule limiting a horse owner to three trainers at Woodbine has drawn criticism from the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario.
There was no limit on the number of trainers an owner could employ at Woodbine until this year. Several prominent owners, including Stronach Stable and Eugene Melnyk, have been affected by the change.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - With top Ohio-breds Harlan's Holiday and U S S Tinosa tackling the best in the nation on the East and West Coasts and possibly heading to the Kentucky Derby, eight 3-year-olds who have stayed home will vie for top prize in the six-furlong $40,000 Howard B. Noonan Stakes at Beulah Park Saturday.
Watch Me Fire, the only stakes winner in the field, with a 6 1/2-length victory in the Loyalty at Thistledown in August, heads the field, making his first start of the year for trainer Bill Napier.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Two and a quarter lengths is all that separates Leaping Plum from a seven-year win streak coming into the $30,000 Pepsi Sprint Handicap, which will be run here again Saturday at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Formerly the Coca-Cola Sprint, the Pepsi drew a full field of 10 with two more on the also-eligible list.
PHOENIX, Ariz. - Bella Cash is one of the best 3-year-old fillies on the Turf Paradise grounds, so the issue isn't ability. But Saturday's $30,000 Scottsdale Handicap here presents a new hurdle for her - turf.
Coming off big wins in the Arizona Oaks and Cactus Cup - both on dirt - Bella Cash will attempt to solidify her position near the top of the local 3-year-old filly division going a mile on the turf.
She hasn't exactly scared potential rivals away. Under a 124-pound highweight impost, she will deal with nine foes.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - B.W. Beetle is looking for a test, but Saturday's $30,000 Rudy Baez Stakes for 3-year-olds at Suffolk Downs doesn't look too taxing.
After two easy victories by a combined 18 lengths, the only possible concerns about B.W. Beetle are the mile distance of the Baez and his relative inexperience compared to the others in the field.
His connections, however, believe there's little reason to worry.
TORONTO - When you're coming off a season of record-breaking handle, what do you do for an encore?
The Woodbine Entertainment Group, proprietors of Woodbine and nearby Mohawk Raceway, reported an overall handle of $1.35 billion last year, an 11 percent increase from 2000.
And while David Willmot, the company's chief executive officer, describes that performance as "sensational" he is cautious when addressing the track's prospects heading into Saturday's opening of the 2002 Woodbine Thoroughbred meeting.