Arson has been ruled out as a possible cause of the Evangeline Downs barn fire last Thursday that killed eight horses, according to officials at the Lafayette, La., track. The fire was accidental, but the cause has yet to be determined, said Charles Ashy Jr., vice president of Evangeline.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows ended its abbreviated 2001-02 meeting on Sunday, handling a meet-topping $315,157 on 14 live races. The day brought the average handle for 46 live cards to $147,175, a 19 percent increase over last season's average of $123,332 for 80 programs.
Felipe Valdez earned his first riding title at the meet, while Jim Fergason was the leading trainer.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A strong storm Saturday night took racing off the turf at Gulfstream Park both Sunday and Monday, and trainer Mark Hennig hopes that trend continues one more day.
Hennig has entered the rapidly improving Pleasant County in Wednesday's featured eighth race, a second-level allowance race that is scheduled to be run at 1 1/16 miles on turf.
Pleasant County, who has won two straight on dirt, is entered for main track only, however, meaning, as Hennig said Monday, "I'm not going to run if it's on the turf."
ARCADIA, Calif. - Skip to the Stone and Senora Claudia won stakes on opposite sides of the Americas last year. Wednesday at Santa Anita, they start for new trainers in allowance races that could lead to starts in stakes.
Skip to the Stone, the winner of the Baldwin Stakes and Bay Shore Stakes last year, is the likely favorite in the third race, a $57,000 allowance race/optional claimer over six furlongs.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Red Bullet, who finished a troubled second behind Mongoose before being disqualified and placed fourth in Saturday's Grade 1 Donn Handicap, may not have to wait long for the opportunity to avenge the defeat.
Red Bullet will run next in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Handicap March 30, said his trainer, Joe Orseno. And on Monday trainer H. James Bond said that race may also be Mongoose's next start.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The faces are changing among the California trainers with 3-year-olds to follow in the upcoming Kentucky Derby preps.
Over the weekend, USS Tinosa (trained by Jerry Hollendorfer), and Searcher (Grant Hofmans) booked places in major stakes next month with wins at Santa Anita. Well-known trainers such as Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas, who between them have accounted for five of the last seven Kentucky Derby winners, failed to win 3-year-old races at Santa Anita with promising horses.
Monmouth Park has trimmed one stakes race and a total of $300,000 in stakes purses from its 2002 meet in order to maintain the $500,000 purse of the Grade 1 United Nations Handicap, according to the stakes schedule released Monday.
Four of the track's Grade 3 races were each targeted for $50,000 cuts. The Red Bank Handicap, Jersey Derby, Sapling Stakes, and Sorority Stakes will each have a purse of $100,000, down from $150,000 last year.
ALBANY, Calif. - Some classy older horses meet in Golden Gate Fields feature Wednesday when stakes winners Mellow Fellow and Highland Gold head a field of seven in a six-furlong $80,000 optional claiming race.
At one time, they were two of the West Coast's best sprinters - Highland Gold defeated Mellow Fellow to win the 2000 Grade 3 Los Angeles Handicap at Hollywood Park. They are still tough customers. Mellow Fellow enters with a three-race win streak, including a victory in the Montclair Handicap over this track in his last start.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Dove Creek, who finished second to the stakes-bound Powder in her most recent start, is a standout in the featured eighth race Wednesday at Oaklawn Park. The six-furlong entry-level allowance has drawn eight fillies and mares, and is worth $27,000.
Dove Creek met winners for the first time in an Oaklawn allowance Jan. 27, and was beaten a length by Powder in what remains one of the fastest six-furlong races of the meet. Following the race, Powder's connections said she could turn up in the $50,000 Spring Fever here March 10.