HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park's main track continues to be heavy and deep, making for slow times and playing havoc with horsemen's training schedules. With Saturday's $500,000 Donn Handicap fast approaching, trainers had no choice but to work their horses over it Sunday and Monday if they plan on making the race.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - In the afterglow of a stirring red, white, and blue Super Bowl won by those upstarts from New England, patriotic punters can get down on Yankee Doodle Boy in Wednesday's eighth-race allowance feature at the Big A.
A son of 1990 NYRA Mile winner Quiet American, Yankee Doodle Boy breaks from post 3 with Jean-Luc Samyn, and heads a field of five entered in a $48,000 third-level allowance at 1 1/8 miles.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Duane Offield is looking forward to Wednesday's feature at Golden Gate Fields. He has entered Blazing Road in the six-furlong allowance, a colt who will be making his first start against winners.
Blazing Road did not make his first start until last Oct. 11. He won his maiden in his third try, against a strong field.
"He's a great big horse," Offield said of Blazing Road.
It took the colt time to get his act together, mentally as well as physically, but the wait was worth it.
Penn National, the casino and racetrack company, had net income of $24.4 million in 2001, the company said Monday, more than double the net income of $12 million in 2000. Revenues for the year were $520 million, compared with $291 million in 2000. Operating expenses were $409 million, compared with $235 million.
Penn National owns and operates Charles Town Races, Penn National racetrack, two casinos in Mississippi, and a casino in Louisiana. The company has been rapidly acquiring casino properties over the past 18 months, explaining the surge in revenues.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Lido Palace, the beaten favorite in Sunday's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap, will be taken out of training to prepare for a summer and fall campaign in New York, trainer Bobby Frankel said on Monday.
Lido Palace finished fourth in the Grade 2 San Antonio, three lengths behind the upset winner, Redattore.
"I think I'll give him a good rest and get him ready for Saratoga and Belmont," Frankel said. "We know he likes those tracks."
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Don Von Hemel is taking a conservative approach with Sand Ridge to begin this meet. Sand Ridge, a successful Midwest sprinter, returns from a seven-month layoff Wednesday in a $35,000 money allowance.
The six-furlong race has drawn nine others, including Jadada, a Grade 3 winner around two turns who has not raced since October, and probable pacesetters Joyful Tune and Abbi's Choice.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The world traveler that the public did not fancy won Sunday's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita.
While bettors made the Chilean-bred Lido Palace a heavy favorite, Redattore, who was bred in Brazil, won his first race on dirt in the U.S. in the Grade 2 San Antonio*.
Dismissed at 11-1, Redattore stalked the pace to the final furlong before pulling away to win by a half-length over Euchre, who finished 1 1-2 lengths in front of Irishesyesareflying.
NEW ORLEANS - Kid Tristan moved with a rush entering the stretch and went on to an easy 6 1/2-length victory Sunday in the $80,000 Fair Grounds Sales Stakes*.
Ridden by Jamie Theriot, Kid Tristan was winning for the second time in six career starts. He returned $8.80 to win as third choice in a field of six 3-year-olds, finishing one mile in 1:39.94 over a fast track. The winner is a Clever Trick colt owned by a group headed by Ralph Wadleigh and trained by Ray Frederick.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The rise of Mizzen Mast in the handicap division on dirt in the last two months has been a stroke of luck, trainer Bobby Frankel admits.
"He trained well on it and I have a lot of grass horses," Frankel said. "It worked out right."
On Saturday at Santa Anita, Mizzen Mast remained perfect on dirt with a convincing win in the $400,000 Strub Stakes*, a prep for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2.
