MIAMI - Eddie Plesa Jr. celebrated his sixth Florida Stallion Series victory last Saturday when O'Rocky rallied to capture the second division of the Dr. Fager Stakes. Plesa may find additional reason to celebrate in the coming weeks with the return of the fragile but extremely talented Best of the Rest, who is nearly ready to launch the fourth comeback of his injury- plagued career.
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DRF Past Performances
OKLAHOMA CITY - Trainer Donnie Von Hemel won his 100th Remington Park stakes race last Sunday when Voladora captured the $35,000 Azalea Handicap. No other trainer comes remotely close to that accomplishment in the track's 14-year history; Steve Hobby ranks a distant second in stakes wins with 30.
AUBURN, Wash. - Two-year-olds will be featured at Emerald Downs on Thursday, with five of the nine races for juveniles.
The rash of 2-year-old races is indicative of the growing role that juveniles have assumed at Emerald, which has now carded 81 races for 2-year-olds through 70 days of racing. Through 70 days at last year's stand, only 52 juvenile races had been run, and only 91 were run at the entire 96-day meeting.
DEL MAR, Calif. - It was about this time one year ago that trainer Bobby Frankel began his annual assault on the nation's major stakes races. He won the Pacific Classic and the Arlington Million, victories that helped propel the Hall of Fame trainer to an Eclipse Award. It was the Summer of Bobby.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Sestino returned from a 23-month layoff four weeks ago, very nearly won, but then looked as though he might need another vacation. He was pulled up soon after the wire by jockey Chris McCarron, and had to be taken from the course in the horse ambulance.
As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with Sestino, at least nothing that couldn't be fixed by a farrier. He had dislodged his right front shoe during the race, and because it was sitting askew, it made a clanging sound that alarmed McCarron, who rode the horse gingerly in the final furlong.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - When you've trained colt and filly 2-year-old champions in the same year, it's safe to say you know something about juvenile form. So when trainer Pat Byrne says he hopes Pass Rush can develop into a top 2-year-old this year, it's safe to say his five opponents at Arlington on Thursday are in deep water.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Easy Action chased the odds-on favorite Imadeed, an impressive front-running winner of an allowance race earlier in the Saratoga meet, and finished second, beaten 6 1/4 lengths.
Luckily for Easy Action, she won't have to contend with the speedy Imadeed when she meets four others Thursday in a classified allowance race, worth $52,000.
The six-furlong race, the third on a nine-race program that doesn't feature a stakes, also drew Grade 1 winner Finder's Fee, Lovely Amanda, Dream for a Moment, and Endlessly.
Trainers Steve Asmussen and Cole Norman are not the only nationally ranked horsemen racing at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. Keith Bourgeois, who starts Miss Nitap in the featured eighth race Thursday, is the nation's ninth leading trainer by wins, with 117.
Asmussen ranks second in the country with 186, while Norman is fourth with 149.
Bourgeois, 39, has been quietly building his stable at his home base of Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, La. He has 65 horses in training there, and is on pace to set a record for wins in a season.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bruneau Time, who won a $32,000 starter allowance over the track Aug. 9, wheels right back to head a field of seven in Thursday's $32,000 allowance feature for fillies and mares at Bay Meadows.
The competition in the six-furlong race is not easy, but Bruneau Time is fresh and sharp, and should benefit from her recent outing over the track. She has only raced four times since returning from a seven-month layoff on June 14. She raced well in three of those outings, and had a legitimate excuse in her only poor effort.