Horse Racing News on January 7, 2011

Stakes with $100,000 purses come in all degrees of difficulty, but it would be hard to find one much tougher or deeper than what Gulfstream Park will offer Sunday with the Grade 3 Marshua's River.

A strategic miscalculation that contributed to the defeat of May Day Rose one month ago in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet will not be repeated Sunday in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita.

This is a new year and Zito is upbeat about both his prospects in 2011 and those of Morning Line, the probable favorite and horse to beat in Saturday's $100,000 Hal's Hope Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

One day after being named a finalist for champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, Blind Luck moved a step closer to her 2011 debut by working a sharp seven furlongs at Santa Anita on Friday morning.