LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For a trainer looking to earn graded type with a 3-year-old turf filly, there is just one logical spot to run in November: The Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs.
"It is the last opportunity to run against straight 3-year-old fillies," said John Ward Jr., who will saddle Snow Dance for the Mrs. Revere Stakes.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Two horses entered off significant layoffs face one who recently posted a 102 Beyer Speed Figure amid a full field of second-level allowance sprinters in the richest race of the Wednesday card at Churchill Downs.
Blazing Count and Clutch Player are the returnees, while Lucky Baldwin is the horse who blazed through his first allowance condition on Oct. 30. They appear to form the core of a $45,500 allowance that goes as the eighth of nine races Wednesday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A puzzling allowance race/optional claimer over 1 1/2 miles on turf is part of a pick six with a $128,253 carryover at Hollywood Park on Wednesday.
The eight-race program includes the return of Wooden Phone, the winner of the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita last February who has been out of action since the spring. Wooden Phone starts in an allowance race/optional claimer over 7 1/2 furlongs in the second race, which is not part of the pick six.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Abraham Katryan will be holding a strong hand Wednesday at Woodbine, when he sends out the uncoupled duo of Runaway Love and Tempered Appeal in the featured eighth race.
A field of seven was drawn for the seven-furlong classified allowance, for a purse of $67,200.
Runaway Love won the restricted Deputy Minister Stakes last fall in his first start as a gelding. He has been something of an underachiever this year, winning just once in eight starts. But he was an authoritative winner of his penultimate race, an $80,000 optional claimer.
Roaring Red, three times a runner-up in very tough company this year, heads a strong group of allowance horses in Wednesday's third race. Roaring Red is winless so far in 2001, but he is the one to beat in Wednesday's six-furlong headliner at Golden Gate Fields.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Guided Tour, who would have been no worse than second choice in the Nov. 23 Clark Handicap, is out of the race after having departed Churchill Downs for his new home in Saudi Arabia.
Trainer Niall O'Callaghan had hoped to be able to run Guided Tour in the $400,000 Clark, but the new owners of the 5-year-old gelding, Buckram Oak Farm, instead want to start getting him ready for his next scheduled start in the Jan. 11 King's Cup in Saudi Arabia. Tom Albertrani will train Guided Tour in his new homeland.
The Meadowlands Racetrack, closed for a week after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, posted surprisingly strong attendance and handle numbers during its recently concluded meet.
Average all-sources handle for the 44-day meet was $2,255,622, up 25 percent from last year's meet and a record for the track. Average ontrack handle increased 14 percent to $604,662.
Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., reported declines in average daily handle and attendance during its 89-day Thoroughbred meet, which ended Sunday.
Handle this meet averaged $2,109,657, down 11 percent from last year's average of $2,375,220. Daily attendance was 3,355, down 17 percent from last year's 4,087.
Purses averaged approximately $133,000 a card for the summer meet and $85,000 for the fall meet, which started following the Grade 1 Super Derby on Sept. 23.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - John R.S. "Doc" Fisher certainly knows his way around a racehorse, having been a veterinarian and trainer for more than 30 years.
But until Sunday, the Fair Hill, Md.-based Fisher had never run a horse at Churchill Downs. So in the frantic seconds after the Dr. Kashnikow, trained by Fisher, won the $177,300 River City Handicap, Fisher suddenly realized he had no idea where to go.
"How do you get to the winner's circle?" he asked.