COLUMBUS, Neb. - Don Herber, fourth in the standings at Columbus with 10 wins, received a 30-day suspension last Friday for the presence of a controlled substance in his system, effectively ending his meet here.
Alejandro "Alex" Granda arrived from Canterbury Park last week and collected two wins over the weekend.
Jorge Collazo Jr. arrives this weekend from Prairie Meadows to boost a colony that has less than 15 active riders.
One-time stakes star Phantom on Tour, attempting a comeback after being sidelined for nearly three years, didn't fare well in his return to the races.
Entered in a six-furlong optional claiming sprint for a tag of $14,000 last Friday night at Penn National, Phantom on Tour beat only one horse in a nine-horse field.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Empress Livia, winner of the Ann Arbor Stakes, will be looking for her fourth consecutive victory when she takes on seven 3-year-old fillies in the $25,000 Mona Lake Stakes Friday evening at Great Lakes Downs.
Empress Livia, from the barn of meet-leading trainer Gerald Bennett and owned by Elizabeth Weber, started her career here this spring, and it took her four races to win her maiden.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - Praise the Prince, who has been nearly unbeatable over both the flat and the hurdles since first trying the fences during the spring of 2000, will be an overwhelming favorite to add to his already impressive resume - despite going postward under a staggering 160 pounds - in Thursday's $100,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Hurdle Handicap at 2 3/8 miles. The Grade 1 race is the highlight of Saratoga's 2001 steeplechase schedule.
Jerry Simms, majority owner of Turf Paradise in Phoenix, has sued the state Department of Gaming and Gov. Jane Hull, claiming that the state cannot prohibit him from doing business with Indian casinos, according to a report in The Arizona Republic.
CHICAGO - The champion filly Caressing, who turned her 3-year-old season around winning the Singapore Plate Stakes two weeks ago at Arlington Park, will make her next start in the Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap on Sept. 8 at Belmont Park.
"It's either that or leave her in the barn," trainer Dave Vance said Tuesday from his base at Churchill Downs.
DEL MAR, Calif. - El Corredor, who could start in Sunday's Grade 2 $250,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap, worked a sharp six furlongs Tuesday morning, but trainer Bob Baffert was still unsure whether he would run this weekend, or await the Grade 1 Vosburgh Handicap in two weeks at Belmont Park.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For trainer Joe Orseno, the first eight months of 2001 have been frustrating. First came setbacks to last year's 2-year-old champion Macho Uno and older handicap star Red Bullet, which delayed their seasonal debuts until the opening of Saratoga. And then there was the career-ending injury to his other Eclipse champion, Perfect Sting.
