Gulfstream Park

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- Skip Away wasn't in a lively mood after his victory yesterday. He was so hot and exhausted that his handlers didn't wait for the horse to return to the barn for a post-race shower. Assistant trainer Pete Johnson grabbed a hose in the winner's circle and sprayed him with a refreshing blast of cold water.That's what having to carry 127 pounds for 1 1/4 miles will do. That's the price for contesting a viciously hot pace, as Skip Away was asked to do by his jockey in the $500,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap.

Displaying the talent but not the temperament of a Kentucky Derby contender, Coronado's Quest finished second yesterday in a major Derby prep after refusing repeatedly to allow his rider onto his back.Time Limit won the seven-furlong $100,000 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park in 1 minute, 22 2/5 seconds. He paid $5.20 to win. The exacta with favorite Coronado's Quest paid $9. Zippy Zeal was third, Red Wraith fourth and Voyamerican fifth.Winning his fifth race in 10 starts, Time Limit is from the same team that produced 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone: owner Overbrook Farm (William T. Young)

Carolyn and Sonny Hine sent Skip Away to Florida for a vacation after his explosive win in the Breeders' Cup Classic. But Skip Away wouldn't lie on the beach and rest."

Audrey and Allen Murray plunked down $800 for a pregnant broodmare in late 1954 -- before they were even married. The mare, Rip Fleet, gave birth to a foal the Murrays sold as a yearling for $4,500.Nice return. Easy business.In business now for 43 years -- their Murmur Farm near Darlington in Harford County comprises 133 acres -- the Murrays quickly learned what nearly every horse breeder knows:Not always nice return. No easy business.But the Murrays persevered. And now in their early 60s, still working as hard as ever, they are enjoying the fruits of their labor.

The second half of Laurel Park's Winter SprintFest went much like the first. An out-of-state horse galloped home the winner while the trainer stayed in Florida saddling a horse that lost.Yesterday, it was Joseph H. Pierce Jr. who missed the celebration in the winner's circle. Why Change, a 4-year-old colt from Pierce's barn at Hialeah Park, powered down the homestretch and captured the $200,000 General George Handicap.Saturday, trainer John Kimmel missed the backslaps after his Miss Golden Circle won the Barbara Fritchie Handicap.

Appealing Skier defeated Unbridled's Song. He raced in the Grade I Florida Derby, Belmont Stakes, Breeders' Cup Sprint and NYRA Mile.Today, the flashy 4-year-old trained by the wily Ben W. Perkins Sr. turns up at Laurel Park for the $200,000 General George Handicap. The seven-furlong sprint with its Grade II rating and hefty purse caught Perkins' eye all the way down in south Florida."That's why we're coming," Perkins said from his barn at Gulfstream Park. "That's not to say there aren't some good horses in there.

For a $200,000 race, it was the quietest winner's circle in memory. The winning trainer and owners hadn't even seen the race; they had listened to the call by telephone.So the victorious mare, Miss Golden Circle, gained all the attention yesterday after her sparkling performance in the Barbara Fritchie Handicap, a Grade II seven-furlong sprint at Laurel Park. And she made the most of it, kicking back her rear feet and shaking her sweaty head.She deserved the spotlight. Under a wise ride by jockey Richard Migliore, who flew in from New York, Miss Golden Circle overcame a difficult post position, avoided traffic and then surged ahead in the stretch for a length victory over last year's Fritchie winner, Lottsa Talc.

Fans in Maryland, even those who don't like to leave the comfort of their living rooms, can glimpse racing's newest sensation Saturday in a potentially spectacular race in Florida.Pulpit, the most-talked-about horse in the East after only two races, will run in the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The key prep for the Triple Crown races, graced with other budding 3-year-old stars, as well, will be televised on ESPN.Frank L. Brothers, Pulpit's respected trainer, said Thursday that he and the colt's owners at Claiborne Farm had decided to enter the lightly raced colt against more experienced runners in what should be a highly competitive Grade II stakes.

HIALEAH, Fla. -- Captain Bodgit, a promising 3-year-old colt trained by Gary Capuano, has been sold for $500,000.Team Valor, based in Pasadena, Calif., bought Captain Bodgit from Phyllis Susini of Valrico, Fla., in a transaction that leaves the horse in Capuano's barn. Based at Bowie, Capuano is spending the winter at Hialeah Park with 18 horses.The top mount is Captain Bodgit. He won five straight races, including the Laurel Futurity, before finishing third last month in his 3-year-old debut, the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

HALLANDALE, Fla. -- The road to the Kentucky Derby, as it often does this time every year, yesterday became a journey through the heart of darkness.Here at Gulfstream Park, a 105-1 unknown named Frisk Me Now knocked off early Derby favorites Confide and Ordway in the $100,000, seven-furlong Danka Hutcheson Stakes.On the West Coast at Santa Anita Park, Boston Harbor, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, faded to fourth in the $100,000 1 1/16-mile Santa Catalina Stakes. No Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner has ever won the Kentucky Derby.