OCEANPORT, N.J. - On Feb. 17, Bob Ise was watching a simulcast of the fifth race at Gulfstream Park from Sam Houston Race Park. The race was for 3-year-old $62,500 maiden claimers. The seventh-place finisher, Junior Deputy, caught his eye, for the amount of trouble he encountered.
Ise, a fledgling owner, called trainer David Fawkes in Florida, who had trained one of Ise's first horses. Ise set a Horse Watch e-mail alert on Junior Deputy and told Fawkes to look for the horse's return.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The 3-year-old colt San Pedro returned from an injury with an impressive sprint allowance win here Saturday, and will probably make his next start in the Grade 3 Round Table on July 28, trainer Spanky Broussard said.
San Pedro, who has won three of four lifetime starts, is something of a rarity, an Illinois-bred with enough natural ability to beat open allowance company, which he has done twice now. The one restricted start he made was in the Fair Grounds Sales Stakes, a race limited to horses who had gone through the Fair Grounds Sale of 2-year-olds.
Blazin Bux will be after his fourth straight win in the Grade 3, $43,880 TQHA Sires Cup Derby at Sam Houston Race Park on Friday night.
Owned by Martha Luedtke and trained by Beverly McNeely, Blazin Bux won his trial by a half-length with the fastest qualifying time of 19.964 seconds for 400 yards. He has wins this year in the Grade 2 Manor Downs Derby and the Calveras Stakes at Retama Park.
Thru Rebas Eyes, owned by Michael Taylor, won her trial by a half-length over four other 3-year-olds who qualified for the finals.
War Colors favored in Challenge
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dave Cotey will be looking to pull off a couple of classic upsets at Woodbine over the next two weekends.
The 53-year-old Cotey, who has owned horses for 30 years but is in the midst of his first year as a trainer, will send out Stage Classic in Saturday's Toronto Cup and hopes to come back with Certainly Classic in the July 22 Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy.
Both Stage Classic and Certainly Classic are Kentucky-bred geldings owned by Dominion Bloodstock, which is Cotey's nom du course, in partnership with Derek Ball and Hugh Galbraith.
Trainer Steve Asmussen looks for Nat's Big Party, who edged Candid Glen in the $100,000 Independence Breeders' Cup at Louisiana Downs on July 4, to be a factor in several regional turf stakes during the second half of the year. His main objective this meet is the $100,000 Louisiana Downs Handicap on Sept. 22.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Congaree, who was given a breather after finishing third in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, benefited from his vacation. He is fresh, fit, and dangerous, and ready to return in Sunday's $500,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park after working six furlongs Tuesday morning at Santa Anita in 1:11 with exercise rider Dana Barnes. It was the best work of 14 at the distance.
"He was awesome. He worked beautiful," said his trainer, Bob Baffert. "He's ready to roll."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Skiffington admits business was slow for the past five years. Early in the 1990's, Skiffington had 60 to 70 runners in his barn. In recent years, that number dwindled to 10 or so.
"I tell everyone, I haven't forgot how to train a horse," said Skiffington, who expertly managed the careers of several talented stakes-winning grass fillies, including Maxzene, Anka Germania, Anguilla, and Fieldy.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Randy Mayfield feels the pain when the top two horses in his stable are ready to run. Gold Nugget broke the trainer's toe before winning last year's Dallas Turf Cup, and over the weekend, Coastalota, who drops from stakes to optional claiming company Thursday night at Lone Star Park, cow-kicked the trainer, bruising his thigh.
"She kicked me and it sounded like a gun went off," said Mayfield, who was injured when grazing Coastalota last Sunday. "It made a big echo. She liked to break my leg."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer John Ross made some waves last Friday at Woodbine, when he saddled Indian Dan to an upset victory over heavily favored Lucky Old Sun and Swedespin in a one-mile allowance on the grass.
Indian Dan paid $47.60, and helped create a rare three-out-of-four payoff in the Win 4, which returned $263.30.
It was Indian Dan's first try on the grass, but he had a license to enjoy the unfamiliar footing because he's a full-brother to Lynclar, a stakes performer on both surfaces.
AUBURN, Wash. - Jockey Dave McFadden will make his Emerald Downs debut Thursday when he rides five mounts, including Royal Fun in the featured eighth race.
McFadden is coming to Emerald from West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, where he has been riding in recent years. McFadden, 23, currently ranks 13th in the Mountaineer standings with 38 wins from 407 mounts for $639,688 in purse earnings. For his career, which began in April 1996, McFadden has won with 787 of 5,265 mounts for nearly $6 million in purse earnings.
