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12-HORSE FIELDS DRAWN FOR BOTH TEXAS STALLION STAKES DIVISIONS
The third leg of the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for foals of 2007 asks nominated horses to try two turns for the first time in the 4-race program and there are full fields of 12 in both $125,000 divisions of the Saturday night one-mile co-features at Sam Houston Race Park.
Clarence Scharbauer Jr.’s Texas homebred Coyote Legend will seek his third straight win since returning to the races, but he must overcome the outside post position 12 in the Jim’s Orbit division for colts and geldings, which will go as the 8th race. Coyote Legend is listed as the 7-2 morning line choice to succeed at a distance that proved beyond the ability of his Texas champion brother Gold Coyote. The Ackerley Brothers Texas homebred Big Texas Daddy, second to Coyote Legend in the Triple Sec Stakes at Delta Downs in his last start in mid-January, is second choice at 9-2. He breaks from post 9. If distance proves to be a problem for the two favorites, Valid Heart and Ornery, two sons of Special Rate, should like the two turns and they start from better posts, four and five respectively.
Millennium Farms’ Camille’s Appeal, winner of the first two legs of this Texas Stallion Stakes Series as a 2-year-old, returns to competition for the first time since late September in the Two Altazano division, which will go as the 9th race. She is a lukewarm 4-1 choice, but faces a solid challenge from Jerry Durant and Bill Jordan’s Texas homebred Tin Top Cat, who has posted gutsy wins in the Bara Lass and Genesis Stakes after being laid off for nearly five months. Two shippers from Fair Grounds, John Adger’s Bless You Child and Heiligbrodt Racing Stable’s New Elite, deserve a look as they ran against some tough company in their New Orleans outings.
SureBet Racing News will provide live streams of both Texas Stallion Stakes divisions on its website, which can be accessed at inthegate.net. Post time for the 8th race is 10:02 and the 9th is 10:28pm.
TEXAS RACING COMMISSION APPROVES SHRP’S ADDITION OF 4 MONDAYS IN MARCH
The request of Sam Houston Race Park officials to add four Monday afternoon racing programs in March to its present live Thoroughbred meet gained unanimous approval at Tuesday’s bi-monthly meeting.
The additional dates make up for the two days lost in early January due to inclement weather and a frozen track, and add two additional days, all of which will be run in the afternoon and simulcast nationwide at a time when there are no signals originating from New York, Florida, Arkansas or California. The added days will be March 8, 15, 22 and 29th. Positive results could lead to more Monday cards in the future.
Fast furlongs...Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints QB, is a partner in the Last Mango Racing Stable group owning Daddy Forty Nine, a promising 3-year-old gelding currently running at Fair Grounds...3-year-olds move further along the 2010 Kentucky Derby trail this weekend with the Fountain of Youth on tap at Gulfstream Park, the Risen Star set for renewal at Fair Grounds, and the Southwest Stakes rescheduled after its President’s Day postponement at Oaklawn Park...Bryan Brown, testifying before the TRC on behalf of Austin Jockey Club, stated that AJC has a signed agreement to buy a 148-acre rectangular tract of land in southern Travis County, and has engaged an architectural designer to develop plans for a first-class simulcast facility with add-on features for future live racing...San Luis Rey Downs, a popular Southern California training center owned by bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corporation will be closed effective March 15 for economic reasons...Former jockey turned horse racing mystery writer Dick Francis passed away late last week at 89...Jack Werk, founder of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants and the Werk Nick Rating, succumbed to cancer this week at 65...Our heartfelt condolences go to TTA Director Eddie Milligan Jr. and his brothers Allen Milligan and Foster Bridewell, along with their extended families, on the passing of longtime Texas trainer Eddie Milligan Sr. last Sunday after he suffered a brain aneurysm on Saturday afternoon at 66.