Most horses good enough to compete in stakes at Gulfstream or Fair Grounds already are long gone from the chilly climate of Kentucky.
But only after the Holiday Cheer Stakes is run Saturday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., will Personal First, the probable favorite for the six-furlong race, finally be shipped to Gulfstream to point to that track's winter series of sprint stakes.
PHOENIX - Usually when a hot new filly rides into town here, she comes from the West, or more specifically, Southern California. But when Turf Paradise presents the $30,000 Kachina Handicap at a mile Saturday, the new shooter comes from another direction. She is, by no means, any less dangerous.
A field of 10 is entered in the Kachina, a mile race for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up - and highweight Purls Ledgend presents a new hurdle for the locals. A 6-year-old mare, she has been a dynamo in the Southwest.
Bronze Abe will be the favorite over four other 2-year-old fillies in Saturday's $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship Stakes at Laurel Park.
The 1 1/8-mile Juvenile Filly, restricted to Maryland-breds, is Bronze Abe's first start around two turns.
Bronze Abe, who will be ridden by Mario Pino, is the most seasoned and accomplished member of the field with a record of 3-2-2 from eight starts and $102,290 in earnings.
Onlynurimagination, second as a 48-1 longshot last out, in the $50,000 Groovy, should be favored Saturday night in the colts and geldings division of the $56,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
Two races earlier, Mightbeachamp will attempt to recapture her best form in the $53,000 fillies division.
The 6 1/2-furlong races are restricted to 2-year-olds by stallions nominated to the series.
Onlynurimagination, who heads a field of eight, appears to be working his way into the winner's circle.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Christmas has come all year long for trainer Bobby Frankel, so why should the day after Christmas have been any different?
Frankel, the nation's runaway leader in Grade 1 stakes wins this year, picked up his 18th of 2001 on Wednesday when Mizzen Mast closed sharply to take the $200,000 Malibu Stakes on Santa Anita's opening day.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Poor manners cost Debonair Joe his second stakes win in the Free House Stakes earlier this month at Hollywood Park. Debonair Joe crossed the wire first in the Free House, but was disqualified for causing interference at the start.
Redemption may come in Friday's $150,000 open division of the California Breeders' Champion Stakes at Santa Anita. A winner of two of eight starts, the well-traveled Debonair Joe is the likely favorite in the seven-furlong Champion Stakes for statebreds.
ARCADIA, Calif. - After Fragrant Cloud finished a close second to Lady George in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 3, trainer Paco Gonzalez canceled plans to start her at the Hollywood Park fall meeting.
"She was tired in the test barn," Gonzalez said. "She was jumping from six furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth and she tried very hard. I jogged her for three weeks."
ARCADIA, Calif. - There will not be many stakes for fillies and mares at Santa Anita this winter without the participation of trainer Ron McAnally.
McAnally's barn is loaded with top females who will compete in virtually every major race.
"That's the way it usually is," he said, referring to the number of breeders who keep top females in his stable.
NEW ORLEANS - So far, trainer Neil Howard's winter in New Orleans has gone just fine. Howard, who moved his stable to Fair Grounds from Florida this season, has started eight horses and won three races, including one with the promising handicapper Rock Slide, and has seen a couple of lightly raced maidens run well. Friday, he stands a good chance of winning his first stakes of the meet with Good Game, who deserves to be favored in the $75,000 Furl Sail Handicap.
MIAMI - Saturday's Grand Slam II program at Calder, which shapes up as one of the best cards in track history, lost some luster Wednesday when trainer Bobby Frankel decided against entering of either his multiple Grade 1 winners as originally planned.
Super Quercus is out of the Grade 2, $150,000 W.L. McKnight Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on the turf, and The Seven Seas will not run in the Grade 2, $150,000 La Prevoyante Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on the turf for for fillies and mares.
