EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Goodbar, New England's champion sprinter of 2001, will make his first start of the year in Saturday's $30,000 Private Terms Stakes at Suffolk Downs. The six-furlong Private Terms drew a field of nine older horses.
Goodbar, who is owned by Robert Gonsalves, will break from the post 4 under 119 pounds, including Josiah Hampshire Jr.. He seeks to avenge a second-place finish behind First Shot in his final start of last year.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For Louisville residents Billy Hays and Joe Woodard, a passion for racing has blossomed into major involvement in the sport.
Hays, a 43-year-old automobile dealer, has been a horse owner for about 15 years. Woodard, 33, was always enamored with the sport, even attending Churchill Downs on several occasions when he was young with the principal of his grade school. About 12 years ago, Woodard started tinkering with cheap horses before ultimately turning to full-time training in the mid-1990's.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Victor Lehman will attempt to make it two in a row when he takes on five rivals in the featured eighth race at Portland Meadows on Saturday, a 1 1/16-mile event for older $5,000 claimers.
Victor Lehman, an accomplished sprinter at Hastings Park, attempted a mile for the first time on Jan. 6 and took an immediate liking to the distance.
A 5-year-old, Victor Lehman went to the front at the start under Clark Jones and held sway throughout, scoring by a length over the fast-finishing Tissington in 1:41.81.
PHOENIX - By the time a horse reaches the age of 6, odds are he has seen his best days.
Someone forgot to tell that to Hangonslewpyhangon.
The veteran appears as good as - or maybe better than - ever and looks very tough in Saturday's $30,000 Swift Stakes at Turf Paradise. The 5 1/2-furlong race lured a field of seven, including the best sprinters on the grounds.
How closely competitive is the field of older sprinters in Saturday's $50,000 Hoover Stakes at Laurel Park? Eight of the 10 horses earned a Beyer Speed Figure between 96 and 100 in their last start.
And the other two runners aren't exactly throwouts. The Deputy Is Home, a 4-year-old colt trained by John Scanlan, is undefeated after four career starts, crushing his rivals by a combined margin of 25 lengths while racing at distances between six furlongs and 1 1/16 miles.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Batique and Snow Dance will share highweight of 119 pounds in Friday's $100,000 De La Rose Handicap at Gulfstream Park. But there's nothing equal about the way the two favorites come into the race.
While Batique has a pair of recent victories, Snow Dance returns from a 10-week vacation that could put her at a disadvantage in the battle for top honors in the Grade 3 stakes.
The De La Rose drew a field of 13 and will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oaklawn Park will open for 54 days of racing Friday with a record purse structure that has helped the track draw more new stables than it has in about a dozen years. The meet, which also has attracted a deeper than usual riding colony, runs through April 13.
The expanded purse structure and backstretch population will help ring in this year's meet with much more enthusiasm than last year, when an ice storm crippled the area just before the meet started, putting a damper on the season.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The United States debut of Theatre Script in a $54,000 allowance race/optional claimer at Santa Anita on Friday may help solve the puzzle of the colt's disappointing form last summer in England.
Unraced since August, Theatre Script has been trained by Simon Bray since October, following an English campaign that included one win in four starts.
Owned by Robert Sangster, Theatre Script was third in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last June but finished last of nine in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York in August.
ALBANY, Calif. - Dee King and trainer Frances Henderson say they rue the day they met.
A Cinderella racing story has degenerated into a bitter, seemingly unending battle over stakes-winning Peteski's Charm, the first and only horse King and Henderson bred and owned together.
The two have another in a long string of hearings scheduled Saturday before the stewards at Golden Gate Fields.
King, a financial broker who also runs Racer's Cafe in San Francisco, met Henderson six years ago at a "Meet the Trainers" night.