ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The countdown to the $1 million Queen's Plate has begun in earnest, and three candidates for the June 24 showpiece for 3-year-old Canadian-breds tuned up here Wednesday morning.
Millennium Allstar, Highland Legacy, and Dawn Watcher all worked five furlongs over a fast main track with Millennium Allstar's 59.80-second clocking the fastest of 24 works at the distance.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In a bygone era, Carl Nafzger probably would not have found himself in such an enviable position. But because Unshaded has fully recovered from a slight tendon injury that was surgically repaired in September, Nafzger will be able to saddle the gelding as a solid second choice Saturday in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs.
"In the old days, we'd have blistered him, fired him, turned him out, and prayed like hell that he'd come back okay," said Nafzger.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Shooting Party ran a good third behind the talented fillies Cat Chat and Xtra Heat in her stakes debut in the $150,000 Nassau County on May 9. The Grade 2 Nassau County was her fourth career start, and after steadying on the turn, she was beaten only 2 1/4 lengths by Cat Chat and Xtra Heat, who finished noses apart.
That effort makes Shooting Party the one to beat Thursday in Belmont Park's sixth race, an allowance that drew five 3-year-old fillies who have never won three races.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Just because they're old doesn't mean they're gray.
But by happy coincidence, the old fellows - and the top contenders - in the Thursday feature at Churchill Downs are gray indeed.
Chorwon, 8, and Thesaurus, 7, are scheduled to clash in a $52,400 turf allowance that highlights the Thursday card. Together, the popular veterans have combined for nine victories and over $400,000 in earnings over the Churchill turf course alone.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When trainer Vladimir Cerin starts Grade 1 comebacker Designed for Luck in race 7 at Hollywood on Thursday, the comparisons with the dreadful comeback of Early Pioneer - another Grade 1 Cerin trainee - will be inescapable. Bettors will wonder whether to love Designed for Luck or to love him not.
AUBURN, Wash. - Ice Cream Social appears to have a slight edge over half a dozen rivals in Thursday's featured eighth race at Emerald Downs.
The race, at six-furlongs, is for $25,000 to $20,000 3-year-old fillies who have never won two races.
MIAMI - Hialeah Park transferred the remaining $647,082 in purse money owed area horsemen to Calder on Tuesday afternoon, according to Rick Sacco, Hialeah's general manager, ending a dispute that has raged between the track and the Florida Division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association since the Hialeah meet ended on May 22.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Platinum Tiara, second in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, is now proving herself as a grass horse.
In her turf debut this spring, Platinum Tiara, a daughter of grass champion Cozzene, won the Patricia Stakes at Hialeah. Following her 10th-place finish on the dirt in the Kentucky Oaks, trainer Joe Waunsch ran her back on turf against older fillies and mares and Platinum Tiara finished a close second to stablemate Silver Bandana in the Calder Breeders' Cup on May 26.
CHICAGO - Say this for Arlington Park: Though it is the dominating force in Chicago racing, the track is not averse to making changes.
During its off-season Arlington revamped its stakes schedule. "You always want to see where your weak points are," said Frank Gabriel, the track's director of racing. "If a race isn't strong, it's either timing or not enough money."
This year, Arlington reduced the Arlington Million purse to $1 million from last year's $2 million, and created a three-stakes Million Preview day in July.
