Bred

TodayThe Bowie Stakes has lured nine evenly matched sprinters, 3-year-olds and up, for its seventh running. The six-furlong dash carries a $50,000 purse.Power By Far, the likely choice, won back-to-back, added-money events prior to a fourth-place finish in Aqueduct's Sport Page Handicap. Von Groovy, a local favorite who finished second in the Lite the Fuse Stakes, is also likely to get attention at the mutuels. He has been campaigned only three times this season and is still seeking his first victory.

TodaySilent Valay, winner of the Heavenly Cause Stakes here earlier in the meeting, takes on eight other Maryland-bred fillies in the Jameela Stakes. The six-furlong event, which carries a $60,000 purse, has lured several stakes-placed 3-year-olds as well as a pair of home-breds which won their debuts impressively. Potomac Bend, from the stable of Vincent Blengs, won her debut by seven lengths after breaking from the No. 1 post. Mark Johnston, aboard in the victory labeled "handily" by the official trackman, will ride the daughter of Polish Numbers again.

Tenski, the only Maryland-bred last year to win a Grade I stakes, has been named 1998 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year.In the annual poll conducted by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Tenski was the unanimous choice for Horse of the Year and champion Maryland-bred 3-year-old filly. She was also the winner for outstanding turf runner.Tenski's 2 1/2-length victory Oct. 10 in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Invitational at Keeneland was one her seven wins in 1998. She also won two Grade III turf stakes at Saratoga.

The winners are in. Maryland's equivalent of the Eclipse Awards are final. And the 1997 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year is Smoke Glacken.A son of Two Punch and Majesty's Crown, Smoke Glacken also won a 1997 Eclipse award as the nation's outstanding sprinter. At distances of a mile or less, he was undefeated in six starts.Based on the vote of eight Maryland racing writers, Smoke Glacken was the unanimous choice for state-bred Horse of the Year.The Maryland Horse Breeders Association conducted the poll.

P Day won the feature at Laurel Park yesterday, hugging a favorable rail on the turf course for an easy score.But the real star was Awad, the second leading Maryland-bred winner of all time who was paraded in front of an appreciative crowd before the stakes race named for him.With Gregg McCarron aboard and trainer David Donk on hand to supervise, one of the state's all-time top runners cantered around the track as a prelude to his retirement at stud at...

Today: Maryland-bred Aileen's Countess -- first, second or third 13 times in 16 races -- will lead nine fillies and mares to the post in the $50,000, 1 1/8 -mile Snow Goose Handicap. See Your Point, winner of eight of 21, is the quality late speed, and Profit Column, after two smashing maiden and allowance wins, risks her perfect record against stakes competition for the first time.Tomorrow: Two fillies from New York ship in to challenge Maryland-bred Assault John and five others in the $30,000 Wide Country Stakes, a 1 1/8 -mile race for 3-year-old fillies.

One of Maryland's hopes for a rooting interest in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes begins his run to the classics today the Fair Grounds in New Orleans.Smoke Glacken, a Maryland-bred son of Two Punch, is entered in the six-furlong $40,000 Black Gold Handicap. No one in his camp knows whether the quick gray colt is a legitimate candidate for the Derby and its demanding distance of 1 1/4 miles. But they're giving the colt a chance."He's still a green kind of a colt," said his trainer, Henry Carroll.

Cigar, one of the greatest and most popular horses of all time, failed to impregnate the first 12 mares he has bred.He is feared to be infertile.Allen E. Paulson, who campaigned the two-time Horse of the Year, said yesterday that Cigar is unquestionably infertile."

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Awad, a Maryland-bred grass champion of 1993, came from last place in a 12-horse field to win the Grade I $200,000 Early Times Manhattan Stakes by a nose over Blues Traveller yesterday at Belmont Park.Jim Ryan, the horse's owner-breeder from Mount Airy, flew in from the Middle East, where he is building homes on the West Bank, to watch the horse win.Awad is a son of Ryan's 1983 Maryland-bred Belmont Stakes winner Caveat, who died earlier this year at the Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City.

When preliminary entries for the Oct. 28 Breeders' Cup are released today, at least one surprise entry with a Maryland connection will be on the list.The state's top sprinter, 6-year-old gelding Goldminer's Dream, who is based at Pimlico Race Course with trainer Ann Merryman, has been entered to run in the $1 million Sprint."Some people might think we're crazy, but you know the old saying: 'You gotta play to win,' " said David Hayden, the Baltimore County horseman who owns Goldminer's Dream in partnership with his wife, Joanne; her uncle, Charles Major of Towson; and Jim Stankovic of Baltimore.

His back is swayed like a Nike swoosh. His shaggy coat, a sign of age, would warm a woolly mammoth. At 28 - ancient for horses - Deputed Testamony looks like he should live at Charlestown. The retirement community, not the racetrack. Yet there he was, at 8 a.m., cavorting like a youngster in a grassy 2 1/2 -acre paddock at Bonita Farm in Darlington. In a nearby paddock, another stallion ambled nearer. In a flash, Deputed Testamony crested his neck in defiance and gave the interloper the stink eye. Hardly the spirit you'd expect of the oldest surviving Preakness winner.

THEY ARE native Baltimoreans, from Remington and Parkville, with accents as thick as Chesapeake sludge at low tide. They are card-carrying members of the Teamsters, driving actors and hauling equipment for TV shows and movies such as Homicide, The Wire and everything John Waters and Barry Levinson have ever filmed around the city. They know firsthand there's glamour - and money - here in Baltimore's grit. And, most important, since today is the 128th running of the Preakness, Foard Wilgis and Dave Picarello are horse owners.

Like a team assembling its road roster, Maryland is finalizing its entry for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Great Race Challenge on Dec. 7 at Sam Houston Race Park in Texas. Maryland-bred horses will represent the state in the six races with purses of $275,000 apiece. Being run for the first time, the series is modeled after the Breeders' Cup with an eye toward allowing states to showcase their breeding programs. Each state's breeders' organization identified state-bred horses for the series.

Despite the trophy presentations and champagne toasts, the Maryland Million last year provided a sobering glimpse of the state of Maryland breeding. Of the 11 races for offspring of Maryland stallions, only four were won by Maryland-breds. Winners of the other seven, including the Maryland Million Classic, were sired by Maryland stallions but born in other states. "There's no excitement in Maryland," said Richard Golden, president of the prestigious Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City in Cecil County.

Gin Talking, the reigning Maryland-bred Horse of the Year, was retired yesterday because of tendon damage in her left foreleg. Robin Graham, her trainer at Laurel Park, said an ultrasound scan revealed the damage after she noticed "different" swelling in a troublesome tendon. "The vet said this was something that might be OK," said Lou Rehak, who owns the filly with Willie White and Bob Orndorff as Skeedattle Associates. "But we just decided to retire her. She's been way too good to us to take a chance of hurting her."

The first thoroughbred through the ring sold for $130,000 at Timonium yesterday as the three-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale kicked off with sizzle. "The atmosphere was pretty electric," said Mason Grasty, executive vice president of the sales company. Purchased by Maryland trainer Tony Dutrow, the Maryland-bred son of Two Punch and Quality Gal named Derby Drive ended up being one of 10 yearlings sold for $100,000 or more on the auction's first day. Last year, 15 sold for $100,000 or more the entire three days.

TodayThe Bowie Stakes has lured nine evenly matched sprinters, 3-year-olds and up, for its seventh running. The six-furlong dash carries a $50,000 purse.Power By Far, the likely choice, won back-to-back, added-money events prior to a fourth-place finish in Aqueduct's Sport Page Handicap. Von Groovy, a local favorite who finished second in the Lite the Fuse Stakes, is also likely to get attention at the mutuels. He has been campaigned only three times this season and is still seeking his first victory.

Tenski, the only Maryland-bred last year to win a Grade I stakes, has been named 1998 Maryland-bred Horse of the Year.In the annual poll conducted by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Tenski was the unanimous choice for Horse of the Year and champion Maryland-bred 3-year-old filly. She was also the winner for outstanding turf runner.Tenski's 2 1/2-length victory Oct. 10 in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Invitational at Keeneland was one her seven wins in 1998. She also won two Grade III turf stakes at Saratoga.

TodaySilent Valay, winner of the Heavenly Cause Stakes here earlier in the meeting, takes on eight other Maryland-bred fillies in the Jameela Stakes. The six-furlong event, which carries a $60,000 purse, has lured several stakes-placed 3-year-olds as well as a pair of home-breds which won their debuts impressively. Potomac Bend, from the stable of Vincent Blengs, won her debut by seven lengths after breaking from the No. 1 post. Mark Johnston, aboard in the victory labeled "handily" by the official trackman, will ride the daughter of Polish Numbers again.

P Day won the feature at Laurel Park yesterday, hugging a favorable rail on the turf course for an easy score.But the real star was Awad, the second leading Maryland-bred winner of all time who was paraded in front of an appreciative crowd before the stakes race named for him.With Gregg McCarron aboard and trainer David Donk on hand to supervise, one of the state's all-time top runners cantered around the track as a prelude to his retirement at stud at...