“Dubai's new horse racing surface wins praise (AP via Yahoo! Sports)” plus 2 more

Dubai's new horse racing surface wins praise (AP via Yahoo! Sports)
Upsets in early races show the field for the Kentucky Derby will be wide open: Horse Racing Insider (The Cleveland Plain Dealer)
Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)

Dubai's new horse racing surface wins praise (AP via Yahoo! Sports)

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 10:03 AM PDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)—Outside Dubai's new temple to horse racing, guests enjoyed an annual white tablecloth breakfast as a prelude to the world's richest races.

Inside, the dress code was hard hats and coveralls as workers scrambled to get the $2 billion Meydan course ready for Saturday's stakes.

The blitz to finish the track—everything from installing windows to planting flowers on Thursday—is an indication of how much unknown territory faces the field in this year's Dubai World Cup and its $10 million centerpiece race.

Many of the jockeys and trainers have had just a few days to get familiar with the Meydan Racecourse's Tapeta surface, which replaces the dirt at the now-razed Nad al Sheba track. The initial responses have been generally upbeat.

Aaron Gryder, who rode Well Armed to a stunning 14-length World Cup victory last year, praised the consistency of Tapeta and predicted a fast running for the 1 1/4-mile race.

"We're very pleased with the track," said Gryder, who this year will ride the Chilean-bred entry Amor De Pobre, which has recently been racing in the Gulf. "The horse wants to know that the track will react the same way with each stride. This surface has been very consistent that way."

Mick Kinane, who retired last year after a 35-year jockey career that included a Belmont Stakes victory, said the Meydan track showed "no real bias" toward either dirt or turf specialists.

"It's a very open World Cup," Kinane said. "It's the most open World Cup we've seen."

Attention remains focused on Gio Ponti, a two-time 2009 Eclipse Award winner from Castleton Lyons Farm in Kentucky. The 5-year-old has three consecutive runner-up finishes, including a narrow loss to Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic in November.

A possible rival, Gitano Hernando, comes to Dubai on a roll—winning three consecutive races going back to the Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita in October. All the victories were on synthetic surfaces.

The 4-year-old colt's trainer, Marco Botti, was "very pleased" with Meydan's track. But he declined to give any pre-race strategies after several training sessions on the Tapeta.

"It's an open contest," Botti said. "We will play our cards."

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Upsets in early races show the field for the Kentucky Derby will be wide open: Horse Racing Insider (The Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Posted: 25 Mar 2010 04:44 AM PDT

By D'Arcy Egan, The Plain Dealer

March 25, 2010, 7:30AM

Gulfstream Park via APIce Box (8), ridden by Jose Lezcano, captures the Florida Derby on Sunday in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The race is a major prep for the Kentucky Derby.Horse racing fans have got to love the Kentucky Derby hopefuls for 2010. Favorites have been faltering and some upsets have been the order the day, making this year's May 1 classic a wide-open affair.

A dominant colt could emerge, but it doesn't appear it will happen this year, giving long-shot bettors plenty of hope. Could it be a repeat of last year, with 19 entrants and a 50-1 shot winner in Mine That Bird?

The Florida Derby, with Barbaro and Big Brown among recent winners, has been a major prep for the Kentucky Derby. Saturday's results were a surprise this time around. Ice Box, at 20-1, proved to be a gutsy closer in grabbing the win. An even longer shot, Pleasant Prince, hung on to finish second. Rule, sent off as the 9-5 favorite after winning the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs, could only manage a third and has fallen from the top 10 lists of many thoroughbred experts.

A few 3-year-olds considered Kentucky Derby possibles for the May 1 classic will make a stop at Fair Grounds on Saturday for the $750,000 Louisiana Derby, which drew a field of 13. Most eyes will be on lukewarm favorites Discreetly Mine and Ron the Greek, both winners at the Louisiana track this year, but neither sophomore has proven to be a strong Kentucky Derby candidate.

Trainer Todd Pletcher's Eskendereya and Interactif are gaining fans. Others rated highly include Lookin At Lucky, Awesome Act, Noble's Promise, Dublin, Odysseus, Schoolyard Dreams and Super Saver, another member of Pletcher's stable.

Fountain of Youth winner Eskendereya is heading to the $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3. Expected to join him is English import Awesome Act, winner of the $250,000 Gotham Stake at Aqueduct on March 6, as well as Jackson Bend and Yawanna Twist.

Four Grade I stakes -- the Santa Anita Derby and Wood Memorial on April 3 and the Blue Grass Stakes and Arkansas Derby on April 10 -- will shake out Kentucky Derby imposters.

Northfield notables: Aaron Merriman must be looking over his shoulder these nights at Northfield Park. While Merriman, of Northfield, leads North America in driving victories, he's struggling to stay on top of the Northfield Park standings as Ryan Stahl keeps ringing up local wins.

Stahl, of Republic, Ohio, posted an impressive eight wins on a March 12 card and notched seven more wins over the weekend, including five on Saturday.

The Northfield standings has Merriman on top with 106 wins, followed by Stahl's 94 victories. Merriman has 171 wins at Northfield and Pennsylvania's The Meadows track this year to top the U.S. Trotting Association standings, leading Corey Callahan (145 wins), who was sidelined for a few days after an injury in a racing mishap at Delaware's Dover Downs.

Stahl's big victory came Saturday, when he guided his own pacer Dan Chaz to victory in the $6,000 Open Pace in 1:53.3. It was the fastest mile of the year at Northfield Park, and pushed the career earnings for the Kent Sherman-trained 7-year-old to $194,097.

Thistledown getting close: Thistledown horsemen are arriving daily for the April 23 season opener, and track superintendent John Banno and his crew have the 1-mile race track in fine shape despite recent rains and winter weather. The first thoroughbred through the gates last Friday was Call On Joshua. Owned by Marilyn Boggs and trained by Jerry Noss, Call On Joshua broke his maiden at Thistledown last summer.

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Horse racing returns on April 10-11 (Douglas Dispatch)

Posted: 24 Mar 2010 10:30 PM PDT

Horse racing is returning to the Cochise County Fairgrounds.

Fairgrounds Manager Karen Strongin announced last week enough state funding has been allocated this year allowing her to put on one weekend of horse racing.

Strongin said the dates she was given were April 10-11.

"We plan to have a nice variety of Thoroughbred and Quarter horse races," she said. "The track has been maintained and we're excited to be able to bring the races back to Douglas this year."

The El Moro de Cumpas trials will be held in Douglas that weekend with the finals to be in Sonoita for the second straight year. The Sonoita Derby Trials will also take place in Douglas as will the John Ray Memorial.

Strongin is hoping to have at least 10 races each of the two days.

With the economic situation the way it is there will be no increase in the price of the admission or the cost of the programs.

A St. Patrick's Day dance is scheduled for this Saturday (March 20) from 8 p.m. to midnight. Money raised will be used for the upcoming horse races. There will be door prizes and green beer. Tickets are $5.

"This board is determined to continue onward with all the traditions we have here," Strongin said. "We're like everybody else … in a funding crunch."

Kingman has cancelled its horse races this year and Safford is running just one weekend like Douglas.

Safford will run this March 20-21, then Strongin said there will be no races the next two weekends.

Douglas will have its races; there will be no racing April 17-18 with Sonoita running April 24-25 and May 1-2 which is Kentucky Derby weekend.

Strongin says what happened last year was beyond her on anyone's on the boards control and they would have loved to have had the horse races but with the timing of the state budget cuts that was just not possible.

"Our legislators are working really hard for us," she said. "They don't want to see this go away either. … They just had to wait and see what kind of funding was going to be available for the fourth quarter period.

"We want to race, we will race but we had to wait to hear from the state as to if any funds were going to be available to help us put on these races. We weren't sure if there was going to be any funding at all."

Some of the money from the state is also purse money, Strongin said.

The fairgrounds manager said she met individually which each of our state representatives and explained to them how important this event is for this area and they were able to come through for her this year.

"This event is very important for this area," she said. "People around here really like the races and look forward to us having them each year. … But it takes a lot of money to put this on."

Some horses are already starting to work out on the track. Strongin expects most of them to arrive around April 1.

Strongin says she is also looking for race sponsors and volunteers.

"If anybody in the community wants to volunteer to help do something out here and they don't have a criminal background, we would love to hear from them," she said.

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Horse Racing

Thursday, March 25, 2010