DEL MAR, Calif. - When they clashed 10 months ago, Feverish lost to Queenie Belle by a nose. When they meet Friday at Del Mar, Feverish may not even recognize her nemesis.
Six fillies and mares entered the $75,000 Piedra Foundation Handicap, a mile race in which Feverish returns as the 120-pound highweight following a layoff of seven weeks. However, Feverish faces a legitimate challenge from new and improved Queenie Belle, back from a layoff of seven months.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Red Sea, a classy 5-year-old, will prep for the Grade 1 Atto Mile in Friday's Woodbine feature, a one-mile classified allowance on the grass.
A field of 10 was drawn for the $73,900 event, which is limited to nonwinners of $44,340 twice at a mile or over since July 1.
Red Sea was second to the unstoppable Dubai Millennium in a listed race in his native England as a
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Jim Bond said at one point he was so high on Personal Pro that he envisioned him as his Travers horse. That plan didn't pan out, but Bond said he expects to see more good things to come from Personal Pro, who won his stakes debut Wednesday at Saratoga in the $198,667 Albany Handicap.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Grade 1 winners Astra and Startac were transferred from trainer Simon Bray to Laura de Seroux on Wednesday by the owners, the executors of the Allen Paulson Living Trust.
The move came four days after Startac won the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park and Astra, who won the Grade 1 Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 24, finished unplaced in the Beverly D. Stakes.
"I'm devastated," Bray said. "I felt like I was doing well for them. Coming off a $400,000, Grade 1 win, it's a little disheartening."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On Thursday night, jockey Shane Sellers will be honored at the Travers Ball as part of the team that won last year's Midsummer Derby with Unshaded. That is the last time Sellers plans to look back.
After that, Sellers will concentrate solely on the future, a future that includes a return to the saddle beginning Saturday when he rides Momentous in the $75,000 Prairie Meadows Oaks in Iowa. It will be Sellers's first mount since suffering a severe knee injury last Dec. 9 at Fair Grounds.
Trainers John Bassett and Dwayne "Sleepy" Gilbreath dominated the trials to the Grade 1 $2.1 million All American Futurity and the Grade 1 $200,000 All American Derby last week at Ruidoso Downs, N.M. They each qualified three horses to the futurity and two horses to the derby.
The finals for each 440-yard race will be on Labor Day, Sept. 3, closing day of the Ruidoso Downs summer season. The 10 fastest horses from the time trials qualified for their respective finals.
Shining Sky, a Grade 1-winning Quarter Horse who is perfect in four career starts, will try to extend his win streak to five Friday night during trials for the $300,900 Sam Houston Futurity at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
Shining Sky, a gelding, is one of 83 horses entered in nine trial races. The 10 fastest qualifiers will advance to the finale, a Grade 1, 400-yard race to be run Sept. 8.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Just in case some uninitiated locals were unaware: This Arlington meet is not the first rodeo for Rene Douglas.
Douglas came to Arlington with some pretty flashy credentials, which makes it entirely understandable why the 34-year-old jockey has been a major force in his first season here. As the 102-day meet hit its midpoint following the Wednesday card, Douglas had a comfortable lead atop the jockey standings.
DEL MAR, Calif. - A hind end problem will keep Futural out of action until the Santa Anita meeting this winter, trainer Craig Dollase said on Wednesday.
A three-time stakes winner this year, Futural finished last of six in the $1 million Pacific Classic on Sunday, the first time he had failed to finish first or second in seven starts since January. On July 1, Futural finished first in the Hollywood Gold Cup, but was placed third for causing interference.