GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Horse racing will put on its version of the NFL's Pro-Bowl game Friday night, when the fifth annual National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship is held at Lone Star Park.
The event has become the definitive all-star competition for jockeys. Sponsored by the NTRA and endorsed by the National Jockeys' Guild, the four-race competition has been a hit since it made its debut at Lone Star in 1997.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Following two authoritative victories at Belmont Park last spring, Beautiful Pleasure looked at the top of her game heading into a pair of Saratoga showdowns with Heritage of Gold.
After Beautiful Pleasure lost a big lead and the Go for Wand to Heritage of Gold on a wet track she was supposed to relish, many began to wonder if Beautiful Pleasure had lost a step. Actually, a few weeks earlier, she had nearly lost more than that.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Prairie Princess, away from the races since winning the Grade 3 Miesque Stakes in 1999, returns to the races Friday in a third-level allowance on turf at one mile at Belmont Park. First post for the nine-race card is 3:05 p.m. Eastern.
Prairie Princess, a daughter of Rocky Mountain, did all her racing in a seven-week span in the fall of 1999. After finishing last in a maiden special weight in the slop, Prairie Princess came back 12 days later to win a maiden claiming race by 3 3/4 lengths.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park is the site of abundant potential Friday, when an international cross section of fillies and mares contest the seventh-race feature.
An undefeated filly from Brazil - Tropical Lady - makes her U.S. debut for owner Aaron Jones and trainer Eduardo Inda. Is she another Riboletta? Jones and Inda can always hope.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Beautiful Pleasure makes her 6-year-old debut in Saturday's $250,000 Hempstead Handicap at Belmont, her sternest competition may come from her own barn.
The connections of Beautiful Pleasure confirmed on Wednesday they would also run Darling My Darling in the Hempstead, a Grade 1 race at 1 1/16 miles. John Ward, assisted by his wife, Donna, trains both horses. Beautiful Pleasure is owned by John Oxley and Darling My Darling is owned by John's wife, Debby, meaning the two mares will be coupled in the wagering.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Wednesday morning, trainer Simon Bray was still nursing a sore right thigh, courtesy of a kick from Astra after she became spooked last Sunday while walking at Bray's Hollywood Park barn.
The pain was starting to dissipate, but the bruise was producing an unusual mix of colors.
"It kind of ranges from a deep purple to a Kentucky blue with a little red in the middle," Bray said. "There's an imprint of the toe grab on my thigh."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It's not just the chance to showcase their own, the men and women commonly known as "the human stars of the game."
It's not just the competition that they all thrive on, or the camaraderie that All-Star night brings.
No, for the jockeys in the fifth annual NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship - to be held Friday night at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Tex. - the event represents a chance to give active support to a cause near and dear to them.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Can't anybody do anything by himself around here?
Last spring, Dale Romans and D. Wayne Lukas dead-heated for the training title at Churchill Downs with 18 wins each. Last fall, Elliott Walden and Bernie Flint tied with 10.
This spring, another dogfight looms. Into the Wednesday card, the training leaders were Flint with 17 winners, Romans with 16, and Walden with 14.
"Oh, yeah," said Romans. "It's going to be tight again." The spring meet ends July 8.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Three days before Arlington's Prairie State Festival, which features six stakes races for Illinois-breds, the participation of the star of the show, Chicago Six, remained uncertain.
Trainer J.R. Smith Sr. said Wednesday afternoon that he and owner Richard Trebat hadn't decided if Chicago Six would start in the Cardinal Handicap on Saturday or await another race, perhaps the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker on July 7.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Joe Bravo, the leading jockey at Monmouth, is reuniting with Songandaprayer for the Grade 3 Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup on July 4 at Monmouth Park.
The decision to name Bravo aboard Songandaprayer, winner of the Grade 1 Fountain of Youth, was announced Wednesday morning. Bravo, an eight-time leading rider here, rode the John Dowd-trained Songandaprayer in his maiden win here last year. Bravo has not been on the horse since.
