Fri, 11/23/2001 - 00:00

Brooks tries for fourth Black Gold Futurity

Leading trainer Rex Brooks has three chances to win his fourth $75,000 Black Gold Futurity Championship at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., on Sunday. The 400-yard race is the final leg of a restricted series of stakes for 2-year-olds that is run all year at Blue Ribbon.

Fri, 11/23/2001 - 00:00

Red's Honor risks stakes streak

ANDERSON, Ind. - Red's Honor guns for his fourth straight stakes win of the Hoosier Park meet Sunday in the $40,000-added To Much Coffee Stakes for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles.

The To Much Coffee is the fourth on an 11-race program. The third race is the $40,000 Frances Slocum Stakes for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles.

Trained by Dale Romans for the McKee Stables, Red's Honor romped by 8 3/4 lengths in the Benjamin Harrison Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 27. He also won the Fort Wayne and Brickyard stakes, both at six furlongs for statebreds.

Fri, 11/23/2001 - 00:00

Bigboystoy attempts to rebound

Bigboystoy, who suffered her only defeat last out in the Bam's Penny Stakes at Bay Meadows, should be a strong favorite in a field of nine juvenile fillies in Sunday's featured eighth race. The six-furlong first-level allowance race has a purse of $32,000.

Bigboystoy made her debut in September at the lowly $8,000 maiden level and overcame a slow start and a very wide trip. She edged clear late in that five-furlong race for a 1 1/2-length victory. In her second start, Bigboystoy won a $32,000 starter allowance by

3 1/2 lengths.

Fri, 11/23/2001 - 00:00

Live at the Half wins sprint at 8

PORTLAND, Ore. - What a long, strange trip it has been for the 8-year-old gelding Live at the Half, who returned to the place where he first entered training last Friday and won the second race at Portland Meadows.

Then Live at the Half went back to trainer Dick Occhiuto's barn and bedded down in a stall next to a 2-year-old filly named Lady Annahalf, who is one of at least five of his daughters or sons currently in training here.

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Val Royal makes late bid for Eclipse

Michael J. Marten/Horsephotos
Val Royal wins the Breeders' Cup Mile four weeks ago. Expect him to come from far back in Sunday's Citation.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The tendon injury that kept Val Royal sidelined for more than a year is behind him, replaced with the memory of a flashy come-from-behind victory in the Breeders' Cup Mile last month at Belmont Park.

On a day of outstanding performances in the World Thoroughbred Championships, Val Royal's victory was among the finest, and it placed him among the world's top turf milers.

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Affirmed Success back in Cigar

JAMAICA, N.Y. - It is becoming as much a Thanksgiving weekend tradition as leftover turkey and crowded malls: Affirmed Success, after disappointing in the Breeders' Cup, seeks redemption in the Cigar Mile.

Saturday, when Aqueduct hosts the 13th Cigar Mile - the last Grade 1 of the year in New York - Affirmed Success will be making his fourth consecutive appearance.

"I would have loved not to have run in the Cigar," trainer Richard Schosberg said. "Because it would mean we would have won the Breeders' Cup."

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Big-name fillies overshadowed by 22-1 Forest Secrets

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As seven highly accomplished fillies left the paddock Thursday to run in the $273,500 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs, trainer John T. Ward Jr. could not help but express his amazement at the depth of the field.

"Other than the Breeders' Cup, I don't know that there's been anything like this," said Ward.

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Rail can't stop Yonaguska in the Fall Highweight

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Excluded from the Breeders' Cup Sprint because he lacked the necessary points, Yonaguska has made the most of his opportunities since then. On Thanksgiving Day at Aqueduct, Yonaguska scored his second consecutive stakes victory in the $112,200 Fall Highweight Handicap before a crowd of 5,343.

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Fair Grounds: Bonapaw romps

NEW ORLEANS - Bonapaw returned to his former barn and a racetrack he loves to put in a dazzling performance on opening day at Fair Grounds, easily winning the Thanksgiving Day Handicap for the second year in a row. Before a crowd of 7,648, Bonapaw beat Robin de Nest by 4 1/4 lengths, and his time of 1:08.74 for six furlongs - a stakes record - was close to the track record of 1:08.34 set last meet by Hallowed Dreams. He paid $3.40.

Thu, 11/22/2001 - 00:00

Hollywood: Stormy Jack in a photo

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Stormy Jack prevailed in a three-horse photo to win the second stakes of his career in Thursday's $102,550 On Trust Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Ridden by Eddie Delahoussaye, Stormy Jack ran 7 1/2 furlongs in 1:28.65, finishing a head in front of 17-1 Waingarth. Ceeband, the 3-5 favorite, finished third, a head behind Waingarth. Stormy Jack paid $8.20 to win. The race was restricted to California-breds.