ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. ? There was a time when the 4-year-old colt E Z Glory had his mind on just about everything but horse racing. E Z Glory went through the terrible twos, driving his trainer, Carl Bowman, and the stable help crazy with nonstop antics.
"Oh, as a 2-year-old he was incorrigible," Bowman said. "He had no focus on anything at all. He'd much rather have picked up a tennis shoe in his mouth and carry it around the barn ? which he actually did two days in a row."
LEXINGTON, Ky. ? After watching Connected's first 19 races, trainer David Carroll believed the gelding was a poor shipper.
So several days before Connected drove to victory Friday in the $80,425 Warfield Stakes at Keeneland, Carroll had him moved from his Churchill Downs home base to Keeneland to acclimate.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Exciting Story, who wrote the finest chapter of his career when winning the Grade 1 Met Mile at Belmont this May, is unlikely to see action again this season.
A Florida-bred 4-year-old owned and bred by Harry T. Mangurian Jr. and trained by Mark Casse, Exciting Story has been off since Sept. 1, when he was upset by Praise From Dixie in a seven-furlong money allowance here.
"After his last race, he got pretty sick," said Casse, "and it just kind of knocked him out. He's just now really getting back to himself.
Sarah Lane's Oates, who is approaching $1 million in earnings, and Midge Too, who in her last start upset Hallowed Dreams, are the standouts in their races Sunday during the second half of the fourth annual Breeders' Festival at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. The festival is a two-day series of eight statebred stakes worth a cumulative $360,000.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Two weeks before the World Thoroughbred Championships is not what most horsemen would call perfect timing for a prep race.
But then, Keeneland officials realize that the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup is not a perennial producer of contenders for the Breeders' Cup, even after the Filly and Mare Turf became part of the championships two years ago. After all, the QEII is restricted to 3-year-old fillies, some of whom are probably not quite ready to step up against their elders.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - John T. Ward Jr. has saddled the winners of Grade 1 races at Gulfstream, Woodbine, Belmont, and Churchill Downs. The most recent win came in May at Churchill, where Monarchos gave Ward his greatest career thrill by winning the 127th Kentucky Derby.
But Ward has never won a Grade 1 at Keeneland, even though he has lived just outside the back gate virtually his entire 56-plus years. "Never gotten one of those gold julep cups" that signifies a Grade 1 win at Keeneland, he said.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Nearly two months after Startac won the biggest race of his career in the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park, he returns for a new trainer as the likely favorite in Saturday's $150,000 Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita.
Despite the sizable purse difference, the Oak Tree Derby, run over 1 1/8 miles on turf, is not an easy spot. In a field of nine, five are stakes winners and two are stakes-placed.
The only thing missing is a bona fide pacesetter, which may result in Romanceishope, the winner of the Del Mar Derby, inheriting that role.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The mare who probably would be favored will almost certainly scratch. The filly who probably will be favored is wholly unproven at the distance. And much of the field has entered at least half-hoping the race comes off turf.
All of which makes Diablos First Lady a fairly interesting proposition in Arlington's Saturday feature, the $50,000-added Laser Show Stakes.
MIAMI - Carey's Gold has the opportunity to become only the sixth horse to sweep all three legs of the Florida Stallion Series in Saturday's $400,000 In Reality Stakes. But it is Delaware invader Booklet who appears to stand out among a field of 14 2-year-old colts and geldings in the 1 1/16-mile race.
ELMONT, N.Y. - As many times as Sharp Performance has lived up to his name this year, trainer David Donk still believes the best is yet to come.
"He does have a lot of talent, he's still green, but that's great because he still has a lot of room to improve," said Donk, who trained top turf horses Awad and Incurable Optimist.
Donk hopes to see some of that improvement Saturday when Sharp Performance tops an eight-horse field entered in the Grade 3, $150,000 Lawrence Realization Handicap for 3-year-olds at 1 1/2 miles on the turf.
