Gold Nugget and Lights on Broadway, considered two of the best older Texas-breds in training, are expected to meet for the first time Saturday night in the $100,000 Texas Hall of Fame Stakes at Retama Park. The 1 1/16-mile turf race is one of seven statebred stakes that will make up the meet's richest card, a $300,000 program designed to celebrate inductions into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Cinderella Story, who has won four of her last five starts, will attempt to keep trainer Cole Norman's stakes streak alive in the $25,000 Majorette Handicap at Louisiana Downs.
Norman swept last weekend's stakes at the track, and to date has won a third of the stakes program at Louisiana Downs.
War General, who pulled off an upset in defeating statebreds in the Iowa Cradle Stakes in his last start, looks to duplicate the feat against open company when he heads a field of six, including a Glynn Bernis-trained entry, in the six-furlong $50,000 Prairie Freshman Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
War General entered the $65,000 Iowa Cradle Stakes on Sept. 1 a maiden and exited it a stakes winner after leading throughout and drawing off to a five-length score while covering the six furlongs in 1:11.36 under jockey Cindy Noll.
Albert the Great drew post six Thursday in a field of seven as he bids for back-to-back wins in Belmont Park's $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.
The 1 1/4-mile Gold Cup heads an outstanding Saturday program at Belmont which features four Grade 1 stakes and one Grade 2, all with Breeders' Cup implications.
Albert the Great, trained by Nick Zito, was pegged an even money favorite in the New York Racing Association morning line.
Aptitude, trained by Bobby Frankel, landed post two and was priced as the 8-5 second-choice.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The leaves are turning. The burgoo is steaming. The horses are jumping out of their hides.
Workers are trimming the hedges, polishing the furniture, testing the toteboard, tapping the kegs.
The unmistakable sights, smells, and sounds of a Bluegrass autumn are in the air, which can only mean one thing in this corner of the world:
Keeneland is open for live horse racing again.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ken McPeek is becoming known as a trainer who can get horses to win early, having done so in recent years with
2-year-old stakes winners such as Tejano Run, Grand Deed, and She's a Devil Due.
This fall, the 2-year-olds have been running especially well for McPeek. Not only does he have two prospects for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in Harlan's Holiday and Repent, but he has what he thinks could be a serious contender for the BC Juvenile Fillies in Take Charge Lady, who is unbeaten in two starts.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A 16 percent takeout on all bets. Coordinated post times with New York. A pick five. Imaginative wagers like the four stakes pick four. Color-coded saddle cloths. Replay kiosks. A vastly improved simulcast production.
Consider all these changes and innovations that have been implemented at Keeneland since Nick Nicholson became track president, and one thing is clear: This ain't your daddy's Keeneland.
"If you listen to people, they'll tell you what you need to do," said Nicholson.
ELMONT, N.Y. - After Exog-enous's half-mile work on Wednes-day, trainer Scotty Schulhofer declared his filly ready to run in Saturday's $750,000 Beldame at Belmont Park, where she gets a rematch with Flute, the leading 3-year-old filly in the country.
Exogenous was timed in 47.25 seconds, handily, over Belmont's main track.
Over the weekend, Schulhofer had a scare when Exogenous had some puffiness in one of her legs. When the swelling subsided it turned out to be nothing more than a minor skin irritation.
ELMONT, N.Y. ? Capsized, whose career has been punctuated by layoffs, has taught trainer Lisa Lewis patience.
On Friday Capsized emerges from his latest layoff in the eighth race at Belmont Park, a 1 1/16-mile allowance on the Widener turf course. The $57,000 race drew a field of seven, plus five main-track-only horses.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Dixie Dot Com may take an unconventional route to the Breeders' Cup Mile.
On Sunday, Dixie Dot Com starts against Tiznow and Skimming in the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita, one of the top preps to the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont on Oct. 27.
But trainer Bill Morey insists that Dixie Dot Com is more likely to run in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Mile on turf if he runs well in the Goodwood, which is over 1 1/8 miles on the dirt.