INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Six starts into Disturbingthepeace's career, trainer Darrell Vienna expected him to already have leaped past the first allowance condition for California-breds.
"It's unbelievable he's still eligible to this condition, the condition that is supposed to be so easy," Vienna said.
Turns out, it's not so easy after all, and as Vienna admitted: "It's a testimony to the Cal-breds that he [Disturbingthepeace] runs these big races and doesn't win."
Heaven Came Down tries for her fourth win in five starts in Thursday's $34,000 third race, a second-level allowance at six furlongs that attracted a field of six.
Heaven Came Down has turned out to be a profitable claim for trainer Tim Pinfield. He claimed the 5-year-old mare in June at Hollywood Park for $12,500, and in her next start she led throughout to win a $16,000 claiming race at Del Mar by four lengths.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Two years after nearly winning the Red Smith Handicap, Williams News will give it another try on Saturday at Aqueduct. The Red Smith, the final turf stakes of the year in New York, is a Grade 2 race run at 12 furlongs and carries a purse of $150,000.
In the 1999 Red Smith, Williams News made the lead in midstretch only to pull himself up, according to his trainer, Tom Amoss. That allowed Monarch's Maze to get past him and win by a length. It's a race Amoss recalls well.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A Grade 1 showdown among California's three leading 2-year-olds - Siphonic, Came Home, and Officer - may be put on hold, as Came Home's status for the Dec. 15 Hollywood Futurity has gone from probable to doubtful.
"I don't think he's going to run, the way the owners are talking," trainer Paco Gonzalez said Tuesday. "It's too bad, because it's going to be a small field."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Phil England is in the process of winding down his operation here and sending horses to Ocala, Fla., where he will train at Classic Mile Farm.
One England runner who will be getting a head start on the trip south is Lodge Hill, who will stop off at Aqueduct for Saturday's Red Smith Handicap.
Lodge Hill, a 4-year-old colt owned by Eugene and Laura Melnyk and R. Bristow Farm, last ran in the Breeders' Cup Turf, finishing eighth in the field of 11.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For a trainer looking to earn graded type with a 3-year-old turf filly, there is just one logical spot to run in November: The Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs.
"It is the last opportunity to run against straight 3-year-old fillies," said John Ward Jr., who will saddle Snow Dance for the Mrs. Revere Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two horses entered off significant layoffs face one who recently posted a 102 Beyer Speed Figure amid a full field of second-level allowance sprinters in the richest race of the Wednesday card at Churchill Downs.
Blazing Count and Clutch Player are the returnees, while Lucky Baldwin is the horse who blazed through his first allowance condition on Oct. 30. They appear to form the core of a $45,500 allowance that goes as the eighth of nine races Wednesday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A puzzling allowance race/optional claimer over 1 1/2 miles on turf is part of a pick six with a $128,253 carryover at Hollywood Park on Wednesday.
The eight-race program includes the return of Wooden Phone, the winner of the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita last February who has been out of action since the spring. Wooden Phone starts in an allowance race/optional claimer over 7 1/2 furlongs in the second race, which is not part of the pick six.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Abraham Katryan will be holding a strong hand Wednesday at Woodbine, when he sends out the uncoupled duo of Runaway Love and Tempered Appeal in the featured eighth race.
A field of seven was drawn for the seven-furlong classified allowance, for a purse of $67,200.
Runaway Love won the restricted Deputy Minister Stakes last fall in his first start as a gelding. He has been something of an underachiever this year, winning just once in eight starts. But he was an authoritative winner of his penultimate race, an $80,000 optional claimer.
Roaring Red, three times a runner-up in very tough company this year, heads a strong group of allowance horses in Wednesday's third race. Roaring Red is winless so far in 2001, but he is the one to beat in Wednesday's six-furlong headliner at Golden Gate Fields.