Delaware Park has gained a fifth graded race for its stakes schedule this season.
The $250,000 Leonard Richards, to be run on June 8, was upgraded to Grade 3 status earlier this year and has been given a $50,000 boost in purse money. The track's other Grade 3 races are the Delaware Handicap, the Delaware Oaks, the Kent Breeders' Cup, and the Endine Stakes.
NEW ORLEANS - The horse from Opelousas, La., has never tangled with this sort of foe before. But then the horse from Opelousas has never been this good before.
The Louisiana-bred gelding Oak Hall is riding a wave of good form into the New Orleans Handicap, and though he hardly fits the profile of a New Orleans Handicap winner, there's really no telling how good Oak Hall might be.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When the 14 jockeys riding in Saturday's $1 million Santa Anita Handicap greet their mounts in the walking ring, many will think they are about to climb aboard the winner.
In a race that lacks a clear favorite or a nationally prominent horse, it is hard to argue with their optimism.
The richest race run at Santa Anita, the Big Cap has attracted a well-matched field that will provide bettors with a difficult puzzle to solve.
Few of the starters can be thrown out at a glance.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Between them, Val Royal and Irish Prize won two of the nation's biggest prizes for turf milers in 2001.
On March 23, the connections of the two horses are hoping to conquer the rest of the world in the $2 million Dubai Duty Free in the Middle East. And on Saturday, they are using the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita as a prep for that race.
But the Grade 2 Kilroe is more than just a stepping-stone to Dubai. The Kilroe has drawn an outstanding field of 12, several of whom are capable of upsetting the big two if they falter.
ARCADIA, Calif. - One of the best races on Saturday's card at Santa Anita is not a major stakes. Three hours before the Santa Anita Handicap, Crafty C.T. and D'wildcat, both stakes winners in 2001, face off in a $54,000 allowance race/optional claimer over six furlongs.
Both colts are considered candidates for important sprint races this year, but their trainers were hoping to launch their 2002 campaigns in easier spots.
"It's the toughest allowance race in America," said Bob Hess Jr., who trains D'wildcat.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - More than 24,000 people were at Gulfstream Park last Sunday, but the vast majority were not here because of the solid field of 3-year-old fillies assembled in the Davona Dale Stakes.
No, they were here to see a concert by Cyndi Lauper. And many of the same people who otherwise have very little interest in horse racing will be here Saturday to see Creedence Clearwater Revisited, or Gato Barbieri and Chuck Mangione on Sunday.
HALLADNALE BEACH, Fla. - What Saturday's $200,000 Rampart Handicap lacks in quantity it certainly makes up for in quality. Grade 1 Stakes winner Forest Secrets and win machine Summer Colony headline a field of six older fillies and mares going 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park.
Forest Secrets won the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes in only the third start of her career last spring at Belmont Park. She closed out her 3-year-old campaign defeating Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Unbridled Elaine in Churchill Downs's Falls City Handicap.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - The magical run of Arromanches is over. The mystifying run of Arthur Wendel continues.
Arromanches, the near-white 9-year-old horse who had won 10 consecutive races, finished fifth, beaten 12 3/4 lengths by Esteemed Friend in a $65,000 claiming race Thursday at Aqueduct. He was making his first start for trainer Arthur Wendel, who claimed Arromanches for $50,000 in his last start. The loss was the 98th straight for Wendel, dating back to May 5, 2000.
ALBANY, Calif. - Northern California's first main-track route stakes for older fillies and mares since last July, Saturday's $55,000-added Sacramento Handicap at Golden Gate Fields wound up with a full field of 12.
Highweights in the field at 117 pounds are stakes-winning Lindsay Jean and De Goddaughter, who won her last race. The vastly improved Miss Terasita and stakes-winning Constantly Classy are the lightweights at 112.
