NEW ORLEANS - For opening week, at least, Gerard Melancon is king of the Fair Grounds jockeys. Melancon, a four-time riding champion at Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, La., won eight races here last week, one more than Eddie Martin, his nearest pursuer. A 34-year-old Louisiana native, Melancon has shed the traces of a checkered past, and has raised his game to a new level.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Provo will attempt to improve his remarkable record of 7 wins from
10 starts on Friday when he takes on five other 3-year-olds in the six-furlong allowance feature at Portland Meadows.
Provo, an obscurely bred son of Pro Chapeau who sold for only $900 as a yearling, won 5 of 6 outings here last season, including three stakes.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With the La Canada series at Santa Anita on the horizon, Mon Ange faces her first test around two turns in an allowance race at Hollywood Park on Friday.
Unbeaten in two starts, Mon Ange is the likely favorite against four others in the seventh race, run over 1 1/16 miles. A win would make her a leading contender for the $200,000 La Brea Stakes over seven furlongs on Dec. 29.
"I think she can route," trainer Richard Matlow said. "She relaxes well. She'll work as fast or as slow as you want. She can lay off it."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners El Prado Essence and Except for Wanda head Friday's Woodbine feature, a $67,200 allowance for fillies and mares.
A five-horse field was drawn for the seven-furlong dash, which is limited to nonwinners of $40,320 other than maiden or claiming since Oct. 1.
El Prado Essence won her first stakes, the Seaway on Sept. 7, by a neck while handing heavily favored Meadow Gem her first loss. She ran seven furlongs in 1:24.20, which was good for a 94 Beyer Figure.
NEW ORLEANS - The Fair Grounds overnight - the sheet of paper listing the horses entered in races two days hence - that came out Wednesday looked like it belonged on an index card, not a legal-sized sheet of paper. Seventy-one horses have been entered on Friday's 10-race program, an average of 7.1 horses per race. Things are not supposed to look like this here - last year's meet averaged 9.3 starters per race.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - After four consecutive starts in graded stakes, Free of Love is deserving of a shot in an easier spot, trainer Rick Violette said, and he has found a suitable allowance race for his 3-year-old on Friday at Aqueduct.
Free of Love, the runner-up in the Grade 1 Jim Dandy in August, is among nine entered in the eighth race, a third-level allowance
for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.
ALBANY, Calif. - El Dorado Shooter, perhaps northern California's best sprinter, had his first workout after a six-month layoff at Golden Gate Fields on Wednesday.
The 4-year-old gelding, trained by Cliff Delima, worked three furlongs in 38 seconds. He has been on the sidelines since running third as the even-money favorite in the Saratoga Handicap on May 26 at Bay Meadows. Prior to that, he was scratched from the April 21 Oakland Handicap at Bay Meadows after suffering from a virus.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Already loaded with stakes horses preparing for 2002, trainer Bobby Frankel recently added three stakes winners to his stable.
Beat Hollow and Shibboleth have arrived from trainer Henry Cecil in England, while recently arrived from Woodbine. A 4-year-old, Milwaukee Brew was previously trained by Joe Orseno. All three may start at the upcoming Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, which starts on Dec. 26.
Hoosier Park's live racing schedule will expand by 40 dates in 2002 under a compromise with Indiana regulators Tuesday.
Hoosier had initially applied for 120 dates, split equally between Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, down from 193 live racing dates in 2001. Hoosier will now hold a 70-day Thoroughbred meeting, from Aug. 29 to Dec. 1, and a 90-day Standardbred meeting, from April 13 to Aug. 15, for a total of 160 live racing days.
Jerry Simms, the majority owner of Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., is close to reaching an agreement with state regulators to sell his stake in the track and step back from any management position, track and state officials said Wednesday.
"The negotiations are continuing and ongoing," said Christa Severns, the public information officer of the Arizona Department of Gaming. Severns said the deal would likely result in Simms immediately surrendering any management control at the track and agreeing to sell his stake in the track within the next six months.