HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Two swings, two misses. The allowance race that trainer Shug McGaughey is seeking for Kentucky Derby candidate to fill for both Saturday and Sunday, which has McGaughey making contingency plans.
Saarland has not raced since he rallied to win the Nov. 24 Remsen Stakes, a race that stamped him as a solid Derby prospect. Ideally, McGaughey wants to get a seven-furlong prep into the stretch-running colt before going back against tougher company at longer distances.
CYPRESS, Calif. - Irisheyesareflying, who was third in the San Antonio Handicap on Feb. 3, is scheduled to make his next start in the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap next Saturday.
This year, there is no defending Horse of the Year in Tiznow to face in the meeting's richest race.
Fourth in the 2001 Big Cap, Irisheyesareflying will be the only member of that 12-horse field to return for this year's race.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Kings Command, who earned a 111 Beyer Speed Figure for his explosive win in the $50,000 King Cotton Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Feb. 2, returns Sunday in the first race, a six-furlong allowance that has drawn some of the best sprinters on the grounds, all pointing for the $50,000 Hot Springs Stakes March 29.
"It looks like all the old gang is back for another round," said trainer Jesse "Sonny" Wigginton, who will send out Bidis, a two-time stakes winner last season at Oaklawn, to meet a field of five that is completed by Sand Ridge, Chindi, and Slider.
NEW ORLEANS - After his run in Sunday's Taylor's Special at Fair Grounds, will head for Dubai early next month to run in the $2 million Golden Shaheen on March 23.
Dennis Richard, who co-owns Bonapaw with his twin brother, Jim, feared he had been passed over for an invitation to the race, but was contacted again last week. According to Richard, the shipping company coordinating travel for American horses to Dubai told him Bonapaw had been invited to race.
"It's official," Richard said Friday. "We heard this morning."
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - This is the time of year that the so-called snowbirds from Canada flock to south Florida, ecstatic to escape their harsh winter climate for a week or two.
Understandably, their showcase track back home, Woodbine, is shuttered for Thoroughbred racing. In the meantime, Gulfstream capably fills the void. With the 36th running of the $150,000 here Saturday, Gulfstream once again pays tribute to the meet-long support shown by fans and horsemen from the Great White North.
Who will adapt best? That may be the deciding factor when 12 well-matched older horses, most of them shippers, meet in Saturday night's $200,000 . The 1 1/8-mile race is the richest of the season at Sam Houston Race Park and one of four stakes on the card Saturday.
"It looks like one of those races anybody can win," said Richard Scherer, who trains 118-pound highweight Mystery Giver. "I think it's going to be about who gets the trip, who takes to the new course, and who handles the shipping."
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Wesley Ward is making plans to return to Dubai with Men's Exclusive.
First stop on the trip is at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday for the $100,000 Ken Maddy Sprint, where the 9-year-old Men's Exclusive will be the 121-pound highweight in a field of seven Cal-bred sprinters.
"He's an old horse," Ward said. "We plan on going to Dubai [where Men's Exclusive ran second last year in the $2 million Golden Shaheen], but being an older horse, he runs better with his races close together."
NEW ORLEANS - In two of the last three meets, the top-class racemare Lu Ravi, now retired, used a win in the Chou Croute Handicap as a springboard to the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap. And though it is the premier route stakes for older fillies and mares at Fair Grounds, the Chou Croute typically serves just that function: a step to bigger and better things.
