PORTLAND, Ore. - Hot-riding Felipe Valdez, who has scarcely slowed down since riding seven winners here on Dec. 23, may hold the key to Sunday's featured ninth race at Portland Meadows.
Valdez has been the regular rider for three of the top entrants in the feature, a mile race for older $2,500 claimers that has drawn a field of 10. It may be highly significant that Valdez winds up on Shy Boots, leaving the reins on Our C. C. and Oxford Circus to others.
The inaugural Great State Challenge, the new six-race event designed for the top horses of statebred programs, will be run on Dec. 7 this year, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced.
The NTRA had already selected Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, Texas, to host the inaugural event. Organizers said the Dec. 7 date was selected because of mild weather in Houston at that time of year and because most states hold their statebred championships in October, so a December date avoids many potential overlaps in scheduling.
The state chairman of Common Cause of Kentucky, a political watchdog group, has filed an ethics complaint against Churchill Downs, calling the racetrack company's recent donations of $15,500 to Kentucky legislators "damaging to the political process."
Richard Beliles, the chairman, filed the complaint on his own behalf, he said Friday. The filing is expected to trigger an investigation by the Kentucky Legislative Ethics Commission, which would not comment on the complaint on Friday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - There is plenty of turmoil in the field for Sunday's Grade 3 San Miguel, a six-furlong stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.
Two of the six entrants - Royal Moro and Bring Jung - are in the process of being sold. Another, Distinction, is a five-start maiden who cost $4.2 million. The other three - Expected Program, Popular, and Roman Dancer - enter the San Miguel off abysmal efforts at short prices.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - What a difference a year makes.
A year ago, jockey Shaun Bridgmohan was watching his mounts win races at Aqueduct while he was at home nursing a punctured lung and four broken ribs suffered in a Dec. 23 spill that sidelined him until Jan. 26.
Twelve months later, Bridgmohan, 22, is riding up a storm at the Big A's inner track meet.
Through Friday's card, Bridgmohan has booted home 23 winners from 129 mounts and is third in the standings. Bridgmohan only trails the leader, apprentice Lorenzo Lezcano, by four wins.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Tout Charmant, once a model of consistency, has been a puzzle for trainer Ron McAnally in the last few months.
In 2000, Tout Charmant earned more than $1 million and was in the top three in all seven of her starts. In 2001, she was unplaced in three starts in the final four months of the year.
A 6-year-old, Tout Charmant has a chance Sunday to convince McAnally and owners Bob and Janice McNair that her racing days are not over. Tout Charmant starts as the 120-pound highweight in the $150,000 San Gorgonio Handicap, a Grade 2 over 1 1/8 miles on turf.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Astute handicappers have long recognized Don Munger as one of the most consistent and productive trainers in Northwest racing. Though he has never trained enough horses to compete for leading trainer honors, Munger has regularly sent out a high percentage of winners, and he has often provided a positive rate of return for win bettors.
ALBANY, Calif. - The claiming game can be tough, but it can also provide instant winners.
Trainer Robert Dempsey is hoping for an instant winner in Sunday's feature race at Golden Gate Fields. He claimed Lytle Creek from leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer for $32,000 in his last start and runs him Sunday in a $40,000 optional claimer at one mile.
Lytle Creek is getting used to running for new trainers. Dempsey's claim for owner Gene Johnson marked the third time Lytle Creek had been claimed in his past six starts.