NEW ORLEANS - Repent has gone from being a 42-1 outsider when he finished second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last fall to the star of the show Sunday in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. The only graded stakes winner in the field and by far the highest-rated horse in the race, Repent can seal his credentials as a major Kentucky Derby contender in the first start of his 3-year-old season.
Or he can raise doubts.
NEW ORLEANS - Last year he had the favorite for the Risen Star. This year, trainer Dallas Stewart isn't sure exactly what he has.
Stewart saddles Bob's Image in Sunday's Risen Star, and though the colt has won two straight races at the meet, both routes and both by open lengths, few are touting Bob's Image as a serious threat in the race. That's a far cry from last year, when Dollar Bill, the most intensely scrutinized 3-year-old training at Fair Grounds last winter, launched his campaign with a win in the race.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Two years ago trainer Christophe Clement and jockey Jerry Bailey joined forces to win Gulfstream Park's $100,000 The Very One Handicap with Innuendo. On Saturday the same team is a good bet to duplicate that result with Innuendo's baby sister Moon Queen, who will face just five rivals in the 1 3/8-mile turf race for older fillies and mares.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Jeff Bonde and jockey Jason Lumpkins agree on one thing: Fertile will be difficult to defeat in Sunday's Vallejo Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.
The $55,000-added Vallejo, a six-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies, was originally scheduled for Jan. 26 but was postponed when not enough entries could be found.
Bonde was ready to run Fertile then and will be even more ready Sunday.
Fertile won her first two starts last spring, winning a maiden race at Golden Gate Fields followed by the Nursery Stakes at Hollywood Park.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Trainer Joe Martin has been fined $500 by Beulah Park stewards for running the wrong horse there Nov. 3.
Martin saddled a horse entered as Comic Grey to finish second in the eighth race that day, but the horse was actually Seventh Wish. The stewards said they believed Martin had made an honest mistake.
Track identifier Rob Fairholm also has been fined $250 and suspended five days for failing to catch the mistake. The purse for the race will likely be redistributed, with Seventh Wish being disqualified from all money.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A hotter pace and an extra furlong allowed Cat Cay to avenge a loss last month to Raging Fever, as Cat Cay defeated Raging Fever by a neck in Friday's $100,000 Shirley Jones Handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Cat Cay and Pat Day, her jockey, made a charge from last to first in a field of seven in the Grade 3 sprint. Raging Fever, who fought on bravely after being tested early, finished 1 1/2 lengths in front of Vague Memory.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - The field for the $75,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 2 grew by two on Thursday when Bay Monster won the allowance feature and King Zonic won his maiden by 10 lengths. Both colts will point for the one-mile Southwest, which is the first of two local preps for the $500,000 Arkansas Derby on April 13.
Saratoga Games and Private Ryan, two horses coming off powerful races in Maryland, are the headliners in Sunday's $75,000 John B. Campbell Handicap for older males at Laurel Park.
The 1 1/8-mile Campbell carries a $25,000 statebred purse supplement for the two eligible Maryland-breds in the 11-horse field, Saratoga Games and Really Irish.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - When heavily favored Pleasant County faded to finish out of the money at 2-5 in Friday's seventh race at Gulfstream, bridge jumpers who plunged on her were crushed, and the result was the highest show price in history.
Man I Love Clare, who ran second, paid a whopping $351.40 to show, a national record, according to Gulfstream officials. Emery Board, the race winner at 5-1, paid $12.20 to win and $86 to show. Third-place finisher Long Haul returned $125.80 to show.