Horse Racing News

Tampa Bay Downs will roll out the red carpet for a champion on Saturday when dual Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti comes to town to kick off his 2010 campaign in the $150,000 Tampa Bay Breeders Cup.

There are no stars, or even familiar names, among the nine probable starters for the $150,000 Sham Stakes at Santa Anita next Saturday. That could change as the Triple Crown trail progresses over the next 60 days.

Retired jockey Flavio Martinez III died in an Albuquerque, N.M., hospital on Feb. 17 after suffering a heart attack, according to his wife, Roberta. He was 51.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has decided not to appeal the 10-day suspension and $25,000 fine handed down last month by the California Horse Racing Board for a positive test for the anesthetic procaine in 2008.

Jockey Lyndie Wade suffered fractures to multiple vertebrae in his neck after being thrown from a mount Friday at Hawthorne and was released from the hospital wearing a neck brace, according to a Hawthorne news release.

Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields has attracted a field of 10, including five local runners for the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby prep.

Bruce Levine, the trainer of Buddy's Saint, was letting the cold water from a hose cascade over the colt's right front ankle outside his Gulfstream Park barn on Wednesday morning.

Since winning an allowance race Jan. 3 at Fair Grounds, Stay Put has taken the course of action suggested by his name. But now it is time for Stay Put to get going again.

The field for the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest, which was rescheduled for Saturday after being canceled Monday, should be about the same as its original cast of 10.

The field for the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest, which was rescheduled for Saturday after being canceled Monday, should be about the same as its original cast of 10.