MIAMI - There are four stakes worth $100,000 apiece on the Grand Slam I program Dec. 8, and if the nomination lists are any indication the best of the four races figures to be the Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap, to be run at 1 1/8 miles on the grass.
The $150,000 Texan Juvenile, the premier race for 2-year-olds at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, is building a reputation for turning out quality horses. In four runnings, the race has produced four Triple Crown starters, and for Saturday night's renewal, a promising field of 11 has been entered, led by French Assault.
The most notable Juvenile graduate is Fifty Stars. He won last year's running, then went on to capture the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby before finishing ninth in the Kentucky Derby. He has earned $676,210.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Juvenile statebreds are the center of attention as Hoosier Park heads into the final weekend of its 70-day season.
The fillies are in the spotlight Friday night with the $30,000 Terre Haute Stakes at one mile, going as the third on an 11-race card. The ninth is the fillies division of the $40,000 Indiana Stallion Stakes at six furlongs, which is for statebreds sired by registered Indiana stallions.
PORTLAND, Ore. - There will be a three-week hiatus in the Thoroughbred stakes action at Portland Meadows until Oregon-bred Day on Dec. 15, when five stakes will be staged. For Chinquapin Charlie, the hero of Portland's Thanksgiving Handicap, the break will be considerably longer. A Kentucky-bred 4-year-old Northern Baby colt, he won't run again until the nine-furlong William Kyne Handicap on Jan. 27.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Radlie Loney figures he gambled and won when he ran Certainly Classic for $32,000 here Nov. 3. Certainly Classic can complete Loney's plan for him when he runs in Sunday's $100,000 Valedictory Handicap.
A 5-year-old gelding by Sky Classic, Certainly Classic won the Grade 3 Grey Stakes here at 2 and was the runner-up in the Sovereign Award voting for his division. He had earned more than $340,000 from 25 career starts when Loney filled out a $57,500 claim slip on behalf of Bruno Brothers Farms of Don and John Bruno here Sept. 22.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Golden Apples, whose third-place finish might be the most under-appreciated performance of Sunday's *, will take a break and not race again until spring. The 3-year-old filly was the only late-runner to gain appreciable ground in the Matriarch, run over a yielding course. Golden Apples finished less than three lengths behind winner Starine.
"On firm ground, I don't think anybody would have beaten [Golden Apples]," trainer Ben Cecil said.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - You thought the turf festival was over? Think again.
Two competitive turf races highlight the Thursday card at Hollywood Park, and trainer Barry Abrams voiced the main concern of many participants involved.
"We don't know how the turf course is going to be," he said.
Hollywood Park took considerable rain Saturday, and by late Sunday, the heavily-used course - on which six races were run during or after rain - was labeled "yielding."
JAMAICA, N.Y. - During a New York winter there's no such thing as a one-turn mile. With the inner-dirt track scheduled to open next week, that explains why there are five of them on Aqueduct's Thursday card.
Among them is the eighth, a $56,000 allowance for 3-year-olds and up that drew a field of eight. The field is a tough one, with well over $2 million in combined earnings, and each entrant having run in at least one graded or group stakes this year.
NEW ORLEANS - As is typical at the beginning of a race meet, the two divisions of an optional claiming race Thursday at Fair Grounds are all about comebackers. In the eighth race, seven of the eight entrants haven't raced in more than a month, and half the eight horses in the ninth race come off a month-plus layoff. Both races are for fillies and mares going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf.
NEW ORLEANS - With the Churchill Downs meet over, trainer Bobby Barnett shipped the last of his Kentucky string south to New Orleans on Monday morning, just like he did last year. But unlike last year, when Barnett was going through what he calls "a little dry spell," he is bringing a promising group to Fair Grounds this winter.