NEW ORLEANS - Team Bonapaw might be headed to Dubai.
Kevin Greely, the racing secretary at Nad al Sheba Racecourse, put in a call this week to the connections of Bonapaw, the top sprinter at Fair Grounds, asking them to nominate the horse to the $2 million Dubai Golden Sheema this March - which is exactly what Bonapaw's New Orleans owners, Jim and Dennis Richards, had hoped for all along.
"They definitely want to go," said trainer Tucker Alonzo.
NEW ORLEANS - What's an extra couple of furlongs? Oak Hall, winner of the Champions Day Sprint last season, won the $150,000 Champions Day Classic* (click here for chart) on Saturday, the culminating event of Fair Grounds' $1 million Louisiana Champions Day.
Oak Hall stalked a torrid pace in the 1 1/8-mile Classic, getting a perfect trip under jockey Kirk LeBlanc, who swept the last three Thoroughbred races on the card, the Turf, Ladies, and Classic.
NEW ORLEANS - My Brents Diamond has been chasing Hallowed Dreams for a year. This time, Hallowed Dreams was nowhere to be found, and longshot My Brents Diamond ran down Kettle Man in the stretch to win the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Sprint* (click here for chart) by three-quarters of a length.
Score one for the "other" Louisiana-bred filly sprinter.
"Really, we were just running for place money," said Jerry Quinn, who trains My Brents Diamond for owner Mike Meeks. "We didn't think we'd beat Hallowed Dreams."
MIAMI - Trainer John Ward was scheduled to have flown to south Florida on Saturday to oversee a Sunday workout at Gulfstream Park by Monarchos, the first work by the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner since he arrived here last week to begin preparations for his 4-year-old campaign.
According to assistant trainer Yvonne Azeff, Monarchos has been jogging and galloping between 1 1/4 miles and 1 3/8 miles on a daily basis and continues to do well while adjusting to this track and the balmy climate.
MIAMI - Trainer Michael Matz took the blinkers off Batique for Saturday's $100,000, Grade 3 My Charmer Handicap* (click here for chart), hoping to get her to relax. But after watching her drop nearly a half-dozen lengths off the pace during the opening half-mile, Matz - the former Olympic equestrian rider - began to think Batique might be relaxing a bit too much.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Bobby Frankel has won six stakes at the current Hollywood Park fall meeting, equaling the 1984 record set by the legendary Charlie Whittingham.
Bettors will be expecting a seventh from Frankel when Euchre starts as the favorite in Sunday's $100,000 Native Diver Handicap. But the trainer was not predicting victory on Friday when entries were drawn. "He might need the race," Frankel warned.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Trainer Carlos Martin was home Friday morning, trying to get over a chest cold. He has 75,000 reasons to get well by Sunday.
That's when Martin will saddle Sunday Driver, who could be the one to beat in Sunday's $75,000 East View Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies at 1 1/16 miles over Aqueduct's inner track.
Sunday Driver will meet only five rivals Sunday, including entrymate Seeyouinmydreams, who, like Sunday Driver, is owned by Carl Lizza's Flying Zee Stable, but is trained by Phil Serpe.
ALBANY, Calif. - When Fancee Bargain runs in Sunday's featured allowance race at Golden Gate Fields, trainer Art Sherman knows just what to expect.
A quick glance at the 5-year-old Fancee Bargain's form suggests she will be the runner-up. In 19 starts, Fancee Bargain has won three times and finished second nine times. In eight starts this year, she has won once and finished second five times, once when disqualified from a win.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wagering from all sources on Woodbine's 165-day Thoroughbred meeting was $344 million, a healthy increase from the $293 million wagered last year.
The Woodbine Entertainment Group, in a press release Thursday, noted the daily average handle from all sources on live Woodbine racing was $2,085,756, an increase of 14 percent over last year.
Wagering from United States sources continued to rise, with this year's total reaching $106 million, up from $80 million last year. Telephone account wagering contributed $12 million, up from $10 million in 2000.
