JAMAICA, N.Y. - As he prepares Xtra Heat for her 4-year-old debut in next Tuesday's Interborough Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer John Salzman is making a case for his filly to win at least one Eclipse Award for her achievements during her 3-year-old season.
ALBANY, Calif. - How good is Catspaw?
That's what trainer Larry Ross will find out when he runs the 3-year-old Storm Cat filly in Friday's feature at Golden Gate Fields, a six-furlong optional claiming race for 3-year-old fillies.
Catspaw hesitated at the start in her Sept. 8 debut at Emerald Downs and was never a factor. She did not run again until a maiden race at Golden Gate Fields on Nov. 17.
Fred Bradley has been involved in racing for so long that his family has a photograph of him in the winner's circle at the old Dade Park in 1938.
Last Saturday, Bradley, a Thoroughbred owner since the late 1960's, got his first stakes win when Timeless Love held on for a narrow victory in the Gowell Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.
"That was a great Christmas present for all of us," said William "Buff" Bradley, who trains Timeless Love for his father. The Gowell was his first stakes victory as a trainer.
MIAMI - It's usually news when the reigning champ in a Grade 3 race returns to defend his title. But American Halo will be among the outsiders in Saturday's running of the Fred W. Hooper Handicap, although he beat a field that included multiple Grade 1 winner Sir Bear in the 2000 Hooper.
Of course winning at long odds would be nothing new for American Halo, who was 76-1 when he shocked everybody - including trainer Angel Medina - by winning last year's Hooper.
ALBANY, Calif. - California's eight-day break from racing may cost Russell Baze his seventh national riding title, but he has already surpassed the 400-win mark for the ninth time in his career. Winner of the National Turf Writers Association's Isaac Murphy Award for the best winning percentage every year since its inception in 1995, Baze is about to take that honor yet again.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Opening day of the winter meet at Santa Anita always looks good. This year, opening day looks great.
Invigorated from the eight-day break that followed Hollywood Park's fall meet, the Southern California racing circuit kicks back into gear Wednesday with a Santa Anita card of full fields, outstanding racing, and all-around enthusiasm. The Dec. 26 program is the first live card in Southern California since Hollywood ended way back on Dec. 17, and it shows.
MIAMI - Had Sugar N Spice kept a straight path through the stretch, she might have won last year's Chaposa Springs Handicap instead of finishing third, beaten about a length in the Grade 3 dash. On Saturday trainer Barry Croft gives the stretch-running Sugar N Spice another chance to win the $100,000 Chaposa Springs, a seven-furlong race for fillies and mares.
NEW ORLEANS - Lakenheath's connections finally found a spot for the filly to race.
Lakenheath, a 3-year-old filly bred and owned by Jim Tafel and trained by Gene Cilio, has not started since she finished a closing third in the Grade 3 Arlington Matron on Oct. 6. She has been working steadily and has been ready to run for weeks. The problem was finding her a suitable race.
With her stablemate Scoop penciled in for Fair Grounds's upcoming filly-and-mare route stakes, the Truly Bound, Lakenheath was all dressed up with no place to go - until Thursday.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - At some point, perhaps as early as next month, Too Scarlet will be ready to take on open company in a graded stakes. Trainer Kristina Dupps didn't think the appropriate time was Saturday, which explains why she scratched Too Scarlet from the Grade 3 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.
Dupps appears to have a found a more reasonable spot for her New York-bred filly Thursday in a third-level allowance race over the inner track that could serve as a prep for the Grade 3, $100,000 Affectionately Handicap on Jan. 12.
