LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Marlon St. Julien, mired in an 0-for-136 slump, is leaving Churchill Downs to begin riding at the Arlington Park meet that begins June 13. St. Julien's last day at Churchill will be Monday.
"Things just weren't working out here," said St. Julien, 29.
St. Julien and agent Randy Romero have split. Harry "The Hat" Hacek will begin working for St. Julien in Chicago.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Mumtaz and Great Fever, two horses conceived in France by the same sire, both have found their way to Chicago's southwest side for Sunday's Indian Maid Stakes. They are two of 12 fillies and mares entered in the $50,000 Indian Maid, a turf race at 1 1/16-miles.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Channing Way, an Arizona filly who showed she belonged in the big leagues when she won the $150,000 Melair at Hollywood Park on April 28, rates as the one to beat in the $60,000 Miss California Stakes at Bay Meadows Sunday.
The Miss California is a six-furlong race restricted to California-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Monmouth Park opened Saturday for its 56th season, but the real business of stakes racing begins Sunday at the New Jersey shore track, with the $100,000 Jersey Derby, the first of 15 graded races scheduled for the 72-day meeting. Nine 3-year-olds entered the Grade 3 race.
With rain all week and more expected over the weekend, it's unlikely the turf will be firm for the 1 1/16-mile race - if it remains on grass.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs will host a Belmont trial of sorts Sunday when Buckle Down Ben runs in a one-mile allowance race in an attempt to earn his way into the June 9 Belmont Stakes.
Buckle Down Ben, purchased earlier this year by Michael Tabor, will be ridden by Pat Day in the eighth race Sunday, a $46,800, second-level allowance.
"We want to get a good tightener under his belt before the Belmont," trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Friday at Churchill. "This isn't a do-or-die situation, by any means."
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hawksley Hill, who won five graded stakes in the United States and was second in the 1998 Breeders' Cup Mile, has been retired, trainer Neil Drysdale said Friday.
An 8-year-old, Hawksley Hill was recently diagnosed with a strained ligament, prompting the decision. Hawksley Hill missed all of 2000 due to injury.
MIAMI - The name Joe Capodici might have been unfamiliar to the majority of the fans on hand for Thursday's opening-day program, but backstretch regulars and long-time Calder patrons had little trouble remembering the veteran rider, who road Icanseetherain to victory in the afternoon's third race.
ELMONT, N.Y. - It has taken Pat Reynolds 30 years to become an overnight sensation.
After a nondescript training career marked by personal pratfalls and a modest amount of success, Reynolds is now enjoying the fruits of his labor and the benefits of having a "big horse."
LINCOLN, Neb. - Watch Me Dazzle turns back to a more comfortable six furlongs as he heads a field of five entered for the $10,000 Journal-Star Stakes for 3-year-olds Sunday at the Lincoln State Fair.
Watch Me Dazzle was a badly faltering second, beaten 17 lengths by Tauke, in the one-mile Stevens Stakes at Fonner Park on May 12. After disputing the pace with the winner for six furlongs, he was ready to give up that day. He should find return to a sprint much more to his liking.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Morluc, who has raced in Hong Kong, Dubai and Louisville, in his past three starts, flew to Texas on Friday for the $100,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint, one of seven stakes worth a cumulative $1 million at Lone Star Park on Monday.
The program of stakes, known as Lone Star Million Day, is the richest day of racing in Texas. Dixie Dot Com headlines Monday's main event, the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap.