JAMAICA, N.Y. - The New York Racing Association has raised its reserved seat prices for next year's Belmont Stakes on June 8, as well as its prices for admission, seats, and trackside parking at its 36-day Saratoga meet.
Belmont Stakes reserved seats previously cost $5 and $10 for all seats. The new prices are $5, $10, and $15 for grandstand seating; $15 and $25 for preferred grandstand; and $10, $15, and $25 for clubhouse seats. General and clubhouse admission remained unchanged at $2 and $4.
ALBANY, Calif. - With the final stakes race of 2001, Golden Gate has almost saved the best for last.
Sunday's $55,000 six-furlong Sutter Stakes for 2-year-olds doesn't measure up, of course, to many of 2001's races in terms of purse or prestige. But it is certainly as intriguing a stakes race as any run here this year.
MIAMI - If it wasn't for bad luck trainer Steve Flint would have had no luck at all since shipping to south Florida earlier this month.
Flint's latest misfortune came last week when his handicap star Outofthebox* (click here for PP's) injured himself in his final work for Saturday's $100,000 Fred Hooper Jr. Handicap. The Hooper was to have served as a prep for the Grade 1 Donn Handicap but Flint not only had to hold Outofthebox out of the Hooper as a result of the mishap, he will also have to pass the Donn as well.
No doubt 2001 could have gone better for Kris Prather. Any layperson who suffered torn knee ligaments and a shoulder out of socket probably would have called it a down year, so just imagine the implications for a professional athlete.
But Prather, who on Monday will return to Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., and try to regain her role as the dominant rider, will always remember 2001 for the good it brought her.
"I don't feel unlucky at all," said Prather, 22. "I still feel really blessed to do what I've done."
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Trainer William Leach and owner William L. Clifton Jr. hold a strong hand in Sunday's $150,563 Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park.
The 6 1/2-furlong race drew a field of 10 2-year-olds, each of whom made the cut in two qualifying races here Dec. 14. Both trials were won convincingly by Leach and Clifton's horses, Engraved and Premeditation. The pair will be coupled in the wagering.
ARCADIA, Calif. - When a filly has not started in five months and is trying to stretch her speed beyond her preferred distance in a Grade 1 sprint with 12 starters, one might surmise she is vulnerable. One might be wrong.
"I don't mean to denigrate any of the other participants, but I wouldn't trade my chances with anyone," trainer Darrell Vienna said.
MIAMI - Honor Glide may not be quite as good as he once was. But at the age of 7 he may still be good enough to give the up-and-coming turf specialists Mr. Pleasentfar and Deeliteful Irving all they can handle in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 W. L. McKnight Handicap.
The 1 1/2-mile McKnight highlights Calder's second annual Grand Slam II program, which also includes three other graded stakes: the Grade 2, $150,000 La Prevoyante Handicap; Grade 3, $100,000 Fred W. Hooper Handicap; and Grade 3, $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap.
NEW ORLEANS - It has been 17 months since Rock Slide's memorable career debut at Saratoga. After getting off to a terrible start and dropping nearly 20 lengths behind the early leaders, he made a sustained run on the turn and through the stretch. He passed all but two horses, making up almost 15 lengths and convincing some observers they had just seen a Kentucky Derby prospect.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Jeff Bonde nominated three 2-year-old fillies to Saturday's Corte Madera Stakes at Golden Gate Fields. When it came time to enter in the $55,000-added one-mile race, however, he signed up only Gloriously Golden, an impressive winner in her past two sprints.
Staying in the barn are the undefeated stakes winner Fertile and Excessive Prayer.
Gloriously Golden faces eight rivals, including the entry of Runaway Ab and Past You.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Felipe Valdez, who rode a record-tying seven winners on Sunday, will try to continue his hot-riding when racing resumes at Portland Meadows on Saturday.
Valdez, a 24-year-old native of Mexico City who is riding at Portland Meadows for the first time this season, took over the top spot in the jockey standings with his victory barrage on Sunday. His seven wins tied the mark set by Joe Crispin last year, when he broke the record of six wins held by several riders, including two household names in Gary Stevens and Gary Baze.
