As a 3-year-old last season, Sincerely was sharp enough to win the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks. But when she stepped up to Grade 1 competition in her next start and attempted 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the Alabama at Saratoga, Sincerely flopped badly.
Trainer Graham Motion may give Sincerely another crack at tackling 10 furlongs in a major race this summer. First, however, she must prove she deserves it.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Friday, on the eve of the Preakness, trainer Joe Orseno watched Thunder Blitz make his way to the five-eighths pole on Belmont Park's main track for his first work since finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby. Orseno remarked that he hadn't been the least bit tempted by the Preakness.
Trainer Bill Mott's Eastern string had a typically productive spring this year, and Mott's Midwest stable has started hot at Churchill Downs. Mott Midwest, headed up by assistant trainer Ralph Nicks, has gone 19-5-5-2 so far at Churchill, with People's Princess in a good spot to enhance that record in Sunday's featured ninth race.
People's Princess, a 5-year-old Meadowlake mare, faces five rivals in the third-level sprint allowance, and is likely to be a heavy favorite under Churchill's leading rider, Pat Day.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - No horse should be feared Sunday in the Grade 3 Cinema Handicap for 3-year-olds at Hollywood Park.
While each of the seven starters in the
1 1/8-mile turf race are reasonably qualified, bettors must accept that every starter also enters with critical flaws. That includes Marine, the 119-pound highweight whose last start was dreadful - fifth as the 9-5 favorite.
ELMONT, N.Y. - New York-bred grass runners, who make for an interesting handicapping puzzle, have created an overflow field for Sunday's $75,000-added Kingston Handicap at Belmont Park.
Only 12 will be permitted to start in the 1 1/8-mile race over the inner turf. Four horses have landed on the also-eligible list.
Draw Shot, Pebo's Guy, and Plato's Love, share highweight honors at 119 pounds.
Plato's Love won last year's Kingston by a nose over Doctor Cat, who is also entered but is without a win in five starts since. Mike Luzzi rides Plato's Love from post 3.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Great Defender, Woodbine's six-furlong track record holder, will make his 2001 debut at that distance against upstart Krz Ruckus and four other Ontario-sired runners in Sunday's New Providence Stakes at Woodbine.
Great Defender was plagued with foot problems last year, when he made just three starts for trainer Ross Armata. His best showing was a second-place finish to One Way Love in the Shepperton Stakes. He also ran second in a classified allowance and was third in the Kenora Stakes.
BALTIMORE - In 1980, Richard Migliore was the exercise rider for a filly named Island Charm who Stephen DiMauro Sr. brought down to Pimlico for the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. She finished fourth.
Twenty-one years later, Migliore guided Two Item Limit - a filly trained by Stephen DiMauro Jr. - to a two-length victory in the $200,000, Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Unshaded made his comeback from a lengthy layoff a triumphant one when he raced to a relatively comfortable 1 1/4-length victory in the eighth race Thursday at Churchill Downs, a $55,220 allowance.
Unshaded, regarded as one of the top 3-year-olds of 2000 after finishing third in the Belmont Stakes and winning the Travers Stakes, was fifth of six in the early going before making a sweeping outside move on the far turn. The 1 1/16-mile race was the first for the Unbridled gelding since his Aug. 26 Travers victory.
AUBURN, Wash. - Crafty Boy, who will make his seasonal bow in Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong, $35,000 Fox Sports Net Handicap at Emerald Downs, is now 6. That's an age at which most horses lose a step, but trainer Bill Beamer feels Crafty Boy, a 17.2-hand son of Let's Go Blue, will prove an exception to the rule.
"Things are really just coming together for this horse," said Beamer. "He is very lightly raced for a 6-year-old, mainly because of his size. The owner never wanted to rush him. She gave him time to develop and mature, and I give her a lot of credit for that.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Last year King Jeremy was deservedly named horse of the year in British Columbia. A gelded son of Free at Last, King Jeremy won five races, three of them stakes, and never finished worse than second in eight starts. His best race might have been the $175,000 British Columbia Derby, in which he set quick fractions and then held on gamely to finish second behind Makors Mark.