INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Northern Crown presents a puzzle for bettors when he makes his U.S. debut on Friday at Hollywood Park.
An import from New Zealand, Northern Crown has been with trainer Simon Bray for two months, but has not started since September 2000. The winner of a maiden race and two cheap allowance races in 12 starts, Northern Crown was a sprinter in New Zealand, but is stretching out to 1 1/16 miles on turf in Friday's $42,000 allowance race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Greatballsoffire, who was sizzling before her recent subpar showing, should get back on track in Friday's seventh race at Woodbine, a $62,500 optional claimer for fillies and mares.
Greatballsoffire has won four of her eight starts this year, banking $143,946. She was bought privately last fall by trainer John Cardella, who saddled her to an upset victory in a five-furlong race at this level on opening day of this long meeting.
Enthralling, undefeated in two starts so far in his career, heads a band of seven allowance horses entered in Friday's featured third race.
Enthralling, a well-bred son of Deputy Minister out of the stakes winning mare Jones Tomes Machine, began his career in August at the San Mateo Fair. He rallied from just off the pace against a band of $25,000 maiden claimers and pulled away at the finish to for a 1 1/2-length victory.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Bobby Frankel's stable could finish the year with a flourish on two continents.
Frankel said Wednesday that Lido Palace and Timboroa may be headed to Japan for late November races.
He is considering Lido Palace, the winner of the Whitney Handicap and Woodward Stakes earlier this year in New York, for the Japan Cup Dirt on Nov. 24. Timboroa, third in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Belmont Park, may start in the Japan Cup the following day.
French Assault, the Louisiana Downs-based colt who finished sixth in last month's Grade 1, $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park, is scheduled to be flown from New York to Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Sunday.
Trainer Keith Desormeaux said the colt's next start has not been decided, but one race under consideration is the $150,000 Texan Juvenile Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston on Dec. 1.
MIAMI, Fla. - Rene Douglas's decision to leave south Florida a month into the Calder meeting and move his tack to Arlington Park caught many here by surprise this summer. But the choice proved to be wise for Douglas, who not only dominated the jockey standings in Chicago but also established some additional contacts among Midwest horsemen that promise to increase his business this winter at Gulfstream Park.
Douglas returned to Calder last weekend for the opening of the Tropical meet but says he plans to take things slowly for a while.
Shug McGaughey is expected to send out the uncoupled entry of Krisada and Kris Pit in Saturday's Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct.
While both are daughters of outstanding grass sire Kris S., only Krisada has proven herself on the turf with a 4-2-4 record from 16 turf starts. Although Krisada has not won a stakes, she is coming off a solid third-place finish in the Dowager Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 14 where she was beaten only a head over a yielding turf course.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dave Cotey had mixed feelings about Lady Shari's first trip out of town.
Cotey, who trains the 2-year-old Lady Shari and is the co-owner along with Hugh Galbraith and Derek Ball, initially had to be reasonably happy with her second-place finish in the $100,600 Polly Drummond Stakes at Delaware Park on Oct. 14.
But Cotey, after conferring with rider Constant Montpellier and learning the results of a postrace veterinary examination, came away believing that Lady Shari definitely should have won the 1 1/16-mile race.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Horseplayers are not necessarily risk-takers. This is no contradiction. Safety-minded bettors habitually seek comfort in the familiar, which is one reason Nanogram will be strongly backed in the seventh-race feature Thursday at Hollywood Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While stakes-winning Silent Emotion typifies the kind of runner that Ken and Sarah Ramsey enjoy owning and watching, the lesser lights of the couple's stable are about to find new homes through the claim box or private sale.
The Ramseys, who have won or tied for leading owner at the last three Churchill Downs meets, are in the process of culling their cheaper stock with the goal of buying the type of horses that can win major races. The result will be fewer horses, so the Ramseys' main trainer, Chuck Simon, will be seeking outside clients.