ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A resurgent Beautiful Belle looks to be the "now" horse in Sunday's $143,370 Jammed Lovely Stakes, a seven-furlong dash for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Heliotrope and Nymphenburg head the supporting feature on the card, the $106,000 River Memories Stakes. Nymphenburg was also entered in Saturday's Maple Leaf Stakes by trainer Jerry Meyer, who said he wouldn't make a decision on where to run her until Saturday.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Superfly T N T, who opened the meet with a win over $25,000 maidens, should be one of the favorites in the featured race Sunday when Hastings Park concludes its 2001 live racing season. The featured race is a $50,000 optional sprint for 3-year-olds.
PORTLAND, Ore. - A compact field of five juveniles, including three who campaigned through the summer at Emerald Downs, will vie over five furlongs in Sunday's $7,500-added Columbia River Stakes at Portland Meadows.
Manito Gentleman, Big Harry Deal, and White Tie Ole have similar credentials, as all three graduated on the maiden $10,000 or maiden $12,500 levels at Emerald. Manito Gentleman could rule a slight favorite, however, based on solid efforts against winners in his two most recent outings.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sparked by the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, Belmont enjoyed significant increases in ontrack attendance and handle for its recently concluded fall meeting. Total handle also jumped considerably.
Buoyed by a Breeders' Cup Day crowd of 52,987, daily average attendance increased 16.4 percent to 7,618 from 6,545 for the 33-day fall meet of 2000. Daily average ontrack handle was up 24.4 percent from $1,695,837 to $2,109,472. Daily average total commingled handle was $13,410,375, a 28 percent leap from 2000 when it was $10,474,022.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Bettors continued to feast on Hawthorne Race Course's $50,000 guaranteed pick six Friday, when the bet was hit for the third time in as many days at this meet. One winning $2 ticket was sold on the pick six, paying $37,794.60. Pick six payoffs have varied each day despite the guaranteed pool because tax rates differ slightly depending on the venue where the winning ticket was sold.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Val Royal, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Mile at Belmont Park on Oct. 27, is likely to have another start this year, trainer Julio Canani said Friday.
Val Royal resumed exercise at Santa Anita on Thursday and is being considered for the $500,000 Citation Handicap at Hollywood Park over 1 1/16 miles on turf on Nov. 24 or the Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin Racecourse on Dec. 16.
Canani said that Val Royal lost weight in the Mile, but that he has quickly rebounded.
At a glance, Top Hit's turf form does not make him a top contender for Sunday's $100,000 Bay Meadows Derby.
He finished fifth in the minor Tempe Handicap on turf last March at Turf Paradise, his only outing on the surface. Since then, his career has blossomed with a win in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby on the main track at Remington Park and placings in two Grade 3 stakes at Hollywood Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Chorwon, sixth at 58-1 in the Breeders' Cup Turf, is through for the year after having bled in the Turf, said trainer Hal Wiggins. The 8-year-old likely will run again next year, with his campaign starting sometime at the Fair Grounds meet that runs through late March.
So many Nicks in the racing game
The surname Nicks often has been linked with success at Churchill Downs, primarily because Ralph Nicks long has served as the top Kentucky-based assistant to Bill Mott.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - She may run or she may stay in the barn, but Heliotrope definitely will be heading to the breeding shed after Sunday's River Memories Stakes at Woodbine.
"If it's soft at all I won't run her," said David Bell, who has trained Heliotrope throughout her productive career for her owners and breeders, Dick and Jo Ellen Shaw.
"I don't want to tear her up in her last start. She won on a yielding turf course last time, but only just. I still don't think she handles soft turf."
The king is dead. Long live the new king.
Mike McCarthy's five-year reign as the leading jockey at Delaware Park is about to end. When the track closes for live racing after Sunday's program, it will crown a new top rider, 22-year-old apprentice Jeremy Rose. Rose came into Saturday's card with 148 winners, 12 more than McCarthy.
Rose, a strong candidate for an Eclipse Award as the nation's top apprentice, credits trainer Tim Ritchey, who uses him as his primary rider, and his agent, "Kid" Breeden, for his success.