ARCADIA, Calif. - Forty on Line, the winner of the $200,000 Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park in November, is taking a pay cut to face a tougher field in Wednesday's $75,000 Blue Norther Stakes at Santa Anita.
* won the Grade 3 Miesque in a 20-1 upset, but must face two highly respected European shippers trained by Bobby Frankel in the Blue Norther - Nunatall and Megahertz.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The time to begin separating the pretenders from the contenders on the long and difficult road to the Kentucky Derby begins in earnest at Gulfstream Park Wednesday with a pair of two-turn preliminary allowance races featuring several promising 3-year-olds, whose connections are hoping they remain on the Derby trail.
Both races are at 1 1/16 miles for a $34,000 purse.
The opening division, to be run as the sixth race, is led by Governor Hickel, Sledge, and the lightly raced but exciting Stephentown.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The field for Saturday's $100,000 Skip Away Handicap lost two contenders on Monday and two more were listed as questionable. The Grade 3 Skip Away is the prep for the Grade 1, $500,000 Donn Handicap on Feb. 9.
Trajectory, who has finished first or second in nine of 10 career starts, suffered a ligament injury in his left foreleg and could be sidelined for an extended period of time.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Iggy Puglisi was released from Arcadia Methodist Hospital on Sunday, eight days after he sustained three fractured vertebrae and a broken right knee in a two-horse spill at Los Alamitos.
The 27-year-old journeyman faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Puglisi estimates he will be away from racing until late spring, citing the knee as the biggest obstacle in his comeback. He could miss the rest of the Santa Anita meeting, which runs through late April.
Oak Hall swept past Boots on Sunday in midstretch, then drew clear to a 1 1/2-length win in the $50,000 Sam Houston Sprint Handicap at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. It was another 10 lengths back in third to even-money favorite Aloha Bold.
Oak Hall ($17.60) raced about 10 lengths off the pace set by Aloha Bold, who ran the opening four furlongs of the seven-furlong race in 45.43 seconds.
Oak Hall began to picked up rivals on the turn, then took the lead en route to running the distance in 1:23.98 over a muddy track.
ALBANY, Calif. - Derby Week begins Wednesday at Golden Gate Fields.
The Golden Gate Derby on Saturday is the West's first step on the Triple Crown trail. The Grade 3 event has even produced one Kentucky Derby winner, Real Quiet in 1998.
Trainer Daryl Snow will send out Cruising Kat in the $125,000, 1 1/16-mile race.
Snow's preparations for the race include a final work on Tuesday. His star also gets an extra look in the morning when Snow arrives at the barn and at night before Snow departs.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Imagine what life would have been like this winter for trainer Bob Baffert, and the Santa Anita handicap division, if both Point Given and Congaree were around. Baffert did Monday morning, when he marveled at the large field expected for Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 San Fernando Breeders' Cup Stakes at Santa Anita.
So what if Baffert's two stars were running Saturday?
"Well, there'd be a shorter field," he said.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - What do you get when you cross a Dancing Fool with a Celtic Melody?
Certainly a memorable evening if that encounter takes place at an Irish pub. As it turns out, though, this particular meeting occurs Wednesday in Aqueduct's featured eighth race, and there is no cover charge.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Nice Boots Baby showed another dimension by coming off the pace to win her first stakes in Sunday's $76,945 Ruthless at Aqueduct by 2 1/2 lengths over Proper Gamble.
Nice Boots Baby, a 3-year-old, is now 3 for 3 for her Maryland-based owner and trainer, Tony Dutrow.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Apparently, Bella Bella Bella does not mind a fight.
In Sunday's $105,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes* (click here for chart) at Santa Anita, Bella Bella Bella ($2.80) outgamed a stubborn Tamarack Bay through the stretch to win by a neck and remain unbeaten after three starts.
