HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Holthus has come out firing this season at Oaklawn Park. A nine-time training champ here, he has won five races over the first six days of the meet to rank second in the standings, one win behind leader Cole Norman.
Holthus, who has achieved that success with just 12 starters, recorded his biggest victory of the young season last Saturday when Kings Command stormed to a 2 1/4-length win in the $50,000 King Cotton Stakes.
NEW ORLEANS - Having lost Unbridled Elaine, his Breeders' Cup Distaff winner, to injury and retirement, trainer Dallas Stewart would have more to look forward to if Dollar Bill were making his 2002 debut Sunday in the Whirlaway Handicap. But Stewart said Tuesday morning that Dollar Bill, unraced since the Travers Stakes in late August, was not yet in physical shape to race this weekend.
ALBANY, Calif. - There's a reason trainer Dean Pederson has one of the highest winning percentages among northern California trainers.
"One thing I try to do is put my horses in position to win," he said.
Pederson isn't sure recently claimed Honey Mustard Girl can win Thursday's feature at Golden Gate Fields, but he believes she has a chance in the $25,000 claiming race for older fillies and mares over six furlongs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - At one mile, the Las Virgenes Stakes on Sunday is too far for Rich Musique, too short for Habibti, and too soon for Spring Meadow. All of this makes the Grade 1 race for 3-year-old fillies one of the most interesting stakes of the Santa Anita winter meet. Five to seven starters are expected. The pacesetter is easily identified.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In choosing the path of least resistance, Ask Me No Secrets and Beefeater Baby may have run into a roadblock Thursday at Santa Anita.
Nominated to Saturday's Grade 2 La Canada Stakes, in which they would have been overshadowed by Affluent, Ask Me No Secrets and Beefeater Baby instead retreat into the allowance ranks Thursday. Trouble is, course specialist Nanogram is waiting to score an upset in the seventh-race feature.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Lord ofthe Thunder, a promising New York-bred 3-year-old, won't make his stakes debut as scheduled in Saturday's $75,000-added Whirlaway at Aqueduct because of a pulled muscle behind.
Dick Lundy, who trains Lord ofthe Thunder for Ernie Paragallo's Paraneck Stable, said it's not a serious injury and won't cost him a significant amount of training time with the colt, who is stabled at Aqueduct.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer James Bond will make his fifth consecutive appearance in the Donn Handicap, only this time he will take two shots in hopes of finally achieving his first victory in Gulfstream Park's premier handicap race.
Bond said Tuesday that he expects to run both Mongoose and Ubiquity in the $500,000, Grade 1 Donn, which will have its 44th running on Saturday. A field of 13 was expected to be entered, and post positions were to be drawn on Wednesday. Bond said the only reason he wouldn't run both is if one drew a bad post.
ARCADIA, Calif. - In the last week, Patrick Valenzuela has forced bettors to respect all of his mounts.
Since he returned from a suspension for a substance abuse violation on Dec. 26, Valenzuela has ridden only six winners, but last weekend two of them were longshots. Last Friday, Valenzuela provided the shock of the day aboard Villanelle ($67.40). Saturday, he won the Pro or Con Handicap with Ta Ta Be True ($32.60).
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park this time of year can often be as intriguing as any graded stakes.
A case in point is Wednesday's $34,000 feature, which could prove a stepping-stone to more lucrative opportunities later in the meet. Even a possible starting berth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 16 may be on the line for one or more of the seven 3-year-olds in the lineup.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - A rare sloppy track at Sunland produced a longshot winner in the $103,700 New Mexico State University Handicap, as 13-1 Runmore Mema prevailed by a neck over I'm Not Bluffin.
Runmore Mema ($28.80) and jockey Jorge Bourdieu bided their time as local heroine and 7-5 favorite Yulla Yulla dueled on the front end with San Felipe's King. Late on the turn Bourdieu sent his mount to rally five wide, and entering the stretch it was apparent that Yulla Yulla, unproven at the mile distance, was out of gas as Runmore Mema seized the lead.