EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Circus Bar seems to have the best speed of the 13 2-year-olds set to run in Saturday's $25,000 Anthony Despirito Stakes at Suffolk Downs. Although he will likely be the post-time favorite, his mission will be complicated by the outside post in the six-furlong race. Jorge Vargas has the call.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Saturday's Hoosier Debutante, which will carry a $100,000 purse for the second consecutive year, has drawn a wide-open field of 11 2-year-old fillies, including four stakes winners and three other stakes-placed runners.
The six-furlong feature has been carded as the fourth race on the 11-race "Ladies' Night" card.
Races 7 through 9 will feature a female jockey challenge. Locals Cindy Noll, Beth Butler, Joddie Fortner, Rhonda Collins, and others will compete against imports Greta Kuntzweiler, Zoe Cadman, and Cindy Herman-Medina.
PHOENIX - Trainer Sean McCarthy probably figured that by shipping Bel Serenata to Turf Paradise things would be easy, since he was getting away from the graded stakes-caliber female turf runners in Southern California.
But as a full field of 10 gets ready for Saturday's $30,000 Chandler Handicap, McCarthy may find things don't always go according to plan. The 7 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-old fillies doesn't have Reine de Romance or Cindy's Hero to worry about, but the competition is stiff and figures to test Bel Serenata to the fullest.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Local sprinters spotted for a getaway payday in the $100,000 Kennedy Road on Dec. 1 probably will have unwelcome company.
The potential spoiler is Impeachthepro, who checked in at Woodbine for a hit-and-run mission in late September and is back in town under the care of trainer Bobby Pion.
Impeachthepro, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Nick Laneve and William Warner and trained by Mike Ferraro, has won 12 of 18 starts and finished second or third four times, earning $349,422 while competing almost exclusively in New York-bred company.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Now that he is the king of New York-breds, Say Florida Sandy looks to expand his kingdom to neighboring New Jersey with a start in Friday's $100,000 Chief Pennekeck Stakes at The Meadowlands.
Say Florida Sandy and his connections will be looking for a rebound in the six-furlong contest, following a troubled loss at 4-5 in the Henry Hudson Handicap at Belmont Park in his last race. The runner-up performance was still good enough to make him the highest-earning runner bred in New York, pushing his bankroll to $1,750,925.
The average all-sources handle on Delaware Park racing registered a modest increase this year.
Figures released Wednesday for the 2001 meet that concluded last Sunday showed $282,505,422 was bet on Delaware's races by ontrack and simulcast bettors. Compared with last year's $289,794,172, the total handle was down 2.5 percent. But because the track raced 139 days this season, 10 fewer than in 2000, the average daily handle rose 4.5 percent, to $2,032,413.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Gino's Spirits was sold Wednesday at Keeneland but still will get to make what figures to be the final start of her career Saturday in the Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs.
"We're going to get to run her," trainer Elliott Walden said soon after Gino's Spirits was sold for $550,000 to the Newsells Park Stud of Klaus Jacobs, a German commercial breeder.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Last Sunday's $8,175 Columbia River Stakes at Portland Meadows drew only five 2-year-olds to race over five furlongs, but race they did.
The favored Manito Gentleman, second-favorite Big Harry Deal, and third choice White Tie Ole battled hammer and tongs through a fast initial quarter in 22.84 seconds, and there was no relief for the survivors after Big Harry Deal dropped out a furlong later.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Rodney Prescott collected four wins Saturday night and is now in third place in the jockey standings with four weeks remaining in the meet.
Prescott took until the sixth race to score his first victory aboard Ticker Tap ($7.80). He followed up by sweeping the last three races on the card aboard Iron Post ($14.80) in the 9th, Idny Energy ($5.60) in the 10th, and Jacks Chance ($9.40) in the 11th. The Prescott pick three closing out the card paid $311.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Apprentice Heather Irion, 17, has impressed local trainers with her horsemanship and poised form in the saddle. Heather comes by these qualities naturally as both her parents, Dale and Sue, are trainers and she has grown up on on horseback.
A senior at Alton High School, Heather is also a good student - she's a member of the National Honor Society - who will graduate ahead of her class in January. After graduation she plans to embark on her career as a jockey full time.