ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday that he would enter Danthebluegrassman in Saturday's $200,000, Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields.
is 2 for 2 at Golden Gate Fields with victories in the $55,000 Gold Rush Stakes on Dec. 15 and the $125,000, Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby on Jan. 12.
ARCADIA, Calif. - California-bred sprinter Echo Eddie has been invited to the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai, where he and at least four other American sprinters will run in the six-furlong race, which is part of the Dubai World Cup card March 23.
Trainer Darrell Vienna and owner David Milch were informed Tuesday that Echo Eddie had been invited. In his most recent start Feb. 23, Echo Eddie won the $100,000 Ken Maddy Handicap by a 1 3/4 lengths, earning a 108 Beyer Speed Figure.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Terri Pompay has been around horses since she was 8 years old in her native Saratoga Springs, N.Y., but very few times in the intervening years has she gotten more enjoyment out of horses than in the last two months at Gulfstream Park.
Pompay, now 40, has sent out six winners from her first 24 starters at the 2002 meet. Several of her horses have returned big mutuels, including winners at 43-1, 23-1, and 10-1.
On Monday, the Pompay-trained Devon Rose captured the fifth race as an odds-on favorite.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - With 32 wins - eight more than his nearest competitor - entering the final week of inner track racing at Aqueduct, Gary Contessa has all but wrapped up the trainer's title at the winter meet.
How well he does in future meets will depend on the progression of his young horses. One horse Contessa believes has a big future is Double Buy Buy, a first-out maiden winner who makes his second career start in Thursday's feature, a preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds at six furlongs.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Bedanken, who has won her last three races, including the $50,000 Dixie Belle Stakes opening day at Oaklawn Park, will make her first start around two turns Saturday in the Grade 3, $75,000 Honeybee.
The 1 1/16-mile race is one of three route stakes for 3-year-old fillies in the region Saturday. Also on the calendar are the Grade 2, $350,000 Fair Grounds Oaks in New Orleans and the $30,000 Sam Houston Oaks in Houston.
NEW ORLEANS - Forget all the talk about winter turning to spring. It's downright freezing here. It was so cold Sunday night that by Monday morning at Fair Grounds, the main track was frozen, looking like an ice blended mocha at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Track maintenance had to pound the ice out of the dirt, and the track finally opened for training at 9:10 a.m. The biting wind made this the Big Chill, not the Big Easy.
ALBANY, Calif. - One year ago, trainer Brian Koriner was preparing for the biggest race of his life with Hoovergetthekeys in the El Camino Real Derby.
Hoovergetthekeys won that race, and this year he will kick start Derby Week at Golden Gate Fields in Wednesday's featured 1 1/16-mile allowance race.
As tough as the field was in last year's El Camino Real Derby, with the likes of Startac, Mo Mon, and San Nicolas, Wednesday's feature could be even tougher.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - As the calendar turns to March, the migration of Southern shippers to New York is about to begin. Two horses that have wintered in the south are headed to Aqueduct this week and figure to be major players in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Stymie Handicap.
Duckhorn, who wintered in Florida, and Wild Summer, who has been in Louisiana since late last fall, will add a little spice to the nine-furlong Stymie, the final stakes of the inner track meeting.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Crafty C.T. will be pointed for the $750,000 Met Mile at Belmont Park on May 27 after an impressive four-length win in an allowance race on Saturday at Santa Anita.
The victory, which came against a strong field, was Crafty C.T.'s first win since the San Rafael Stakes in March 2001. He subsequently finished second in the Santa Anita Anita Derby but ran poorly in two allowance races at Hollywood Park and Del Mar.
"I think we're back," trainer Howard Zucker said. "He was real impressive going to the wire. He ran like his old self."
