Snow Goose

With the major Triple Crown prep races taking something of a respite this weekend, Laurel Park presents one of the featured events today.Six fillies and mares will run in the final graded stakes of Laurel's winter meeting, the Grade III, $100,000 Snow Goose Handicap.New York will be well-represented in the person of jockey Mike Smith, who will guide top-weighted Lotta Dancing, a 5-2 second choice in the overnight line.Lotta Dancing has raced only once since Jan. 28, finishing third in the Grade III Next Move Handicap at Aqueduct.

The sky is beginning to glow pink as we bank the turn into the entrance of Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Pennsylvania. We hurry, not wanting to miss the show that is about to begin. Although we can't see the estimated 100,000 snow geese floating on the sheltered lagoon, we hear their communal voices. It's March, and these magnificent white birds are here for only a few weeks during their migratory passage to the Arctic. After resting and fattening up on local farm crops, they'll continue north to Canada's St. Lawrence River, ending eventually at their Alaskan mating and breeding grounds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which on Friday proposed to close the hunting season on migratory Canada geese in Maryland and throughout the Atlantic Flyway, intends to expand duck and snow goose seasons here this year.Under its proposals, which still must be adjusted by the Department of Natural Resources, duck season would last no more than 50 days between Oct. 1 and Jan. 20. Snow geese limitations call for up to 107 days between Oct. 1 and March 10.The proposed bag limit for ducks is five per day, including no more than one mallard hen, two wood ducks, two redheads, one black duck, one mottled duck, one pintail and one canvasback.

Irving's Baby rolled to her third straight stakes victory yesterday by taking the $60,000 Snow Goose Handicap for older fillies and mares at Laurel Park. Irving's Baby and jockey Ramon Dominguez took the lead in a leisurely 25 1/5 seconds in the 10- furlong Snow Goose, then kept Maryland-bred Horse of the Year Gin Talking at bay the rest of the way. Irving's Baby won by eight lengths in 2 minutes, 3 2/5 seconds over a fast main track. Gin Talking finished second. "My filly was relaxed and ready to do it," Dominguez said.

Milton P. Higgins' Merengue sped away from three opponents and easily won the 12th running of the $50,000 Snow Goose Handicap for older fillies and mares yesterday at Laurel Park.A winner of four straight stakes at Laurel, Merengue completed the nine-furlong race in 1 minute, 52 seconds over a muddy race strip under jockey Rick Wilson. Wilson captured all three stakes races carded this weekend at Laurel, winning the Goss L. Stryker with Goodtobeking and the Sagamore Stakes with Fred Bear Claw on Saturday before guiding this winner for trainer Donald Barr.

The fawn and dark brown colors of Darby Dan Farm, that were carried to victory by Little Current in the 1974 Preakness, returned to the winner's circle yesterday at Pimlico Race Course.But just barely.Low Tolerance, the highweight at 118 pounds and 4-5 betting favorite in the Snow Goose Handicap, bore down on pacesetter Dress Optional in the long, sloppy stretch at Old Hilltop, and won by a nose in one last jump.Mario Pino, on the Merryman runner, slowed the pace down to a crawl and looked like he might hold on for the victory until Low Tolerance began grinding her way to the wire.

On a day when maidens were running six furlongs in 1 minute, 16 3/5 seconds, Brilliant Brass made the dull track sparkle at Pimlico Race Course.The 5-year-old gray mare swept from mid-pack at the top of the stretch, rallied in the middle of the stretch and won the $100,000 Snow Goose Handicap in near stakes-record time.Brilliant Brass ran the nine furlongs in 1 minute, 50 1/5 seconds, a fifth of a second off the stakes record set by Thirty Eight Go Go in 1989.Edgar Prado, who passed up Pie In Your Eye in the Cherry Hill Mile to ride Brilliant Brass, said he committed himself to the mare 10 days ago. "If I took off, I was afraid [winning trainer]

MIGRATORY GEESE have returned from Maryland to their nesting grounds in the Canadian north. The January count of Atlantic Flyway waterfowl found sharply divergent trends for the two most prominent species. This could presage a major change in wildlife management.The Canada goose is still in decline, after two years of a hunting ban. Bad weather in the northern Quebec tundra limited reproduction of the bird that symbolizes Chesapeake waterfowl and was long the mainstay of Maryland hunting.

The owner didn't make the race. Nor did the trainer.Shoop, however, arrived ready for action and she scored a lTC length victory over local favorite Miss Slewpy yesterday in the $100,000 Snow Goose Handicap at Laurel Park.The victory in the Grade III event pushed the 5-year-old mare's lifetime earnings above $220,000. She has not finished worse than second in her last seven outings. Shoop ran the 1 1/8 miles in a solid 1: 49 2/5."I've ridden this mare and won on her and believe me, she has a ton of heart," said jockey Julio Pezua.

The auspicious comeback of Smart 'n Noble, the winningest filly or mare of the Maryland winter season, takes an unexpected turn today when her longtime jockey, Mario Pino, spurns her to ride an out-of-town invader, Hey Hazel, in the Snow Goose Handicap.The $100,000 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles is today's Laurel Park feature and the final graded stakes of the meet.Pino describes the situation as an unfortunate misunderstanding, propagated by his former agent, Joe Monahan, who recently suffered a stroke and has been forced to give up the jockey's book.

Richard Small was alone in the winner's circle after yesterday's $75,000 Snow Goose Handicap at Laurel Park, but he didn't mind. As owner, breeder and trainer of the powerful mare Proud Owner, he didn't have to share any credit, except with jockey Jozbin Santana. And he obliged his rider. "That kid is a natural," Small said. Yesterday's win for Proud Owner was a nice parallel for Small's new life. Small used to handle the free-spending stable of Robert and Harry Meyerhoff, where parties in the winner's circle were exceeded only by the pressure to win with expensive horses.

Unlike the migratory Canada goose, the snow goose has flourished in the Atlantic Flyway, growing to the point that farmers, landowners and waterfowl managers want great numbers of them eliminated.Snow geese are voracious feeders and destroy habitat by consuming even the roots of plants in coastal marshes and grain fields. The long-term effects of heavy grazing are devastating for other species of waterfowl and wildlife that share habitat with snow geese.Aerial surveys of snow geese on the St. Lawrence River this spring produced an estimate of 800,400 birds staging for their migration north to Bylot Island, the main breeding area in the Canadian Arctic.

Milton P. Higgins' Merengue sped away from three opponents and easily won the 12th running of the $50,000 Snow Goose Handicap for older fillies and mares yesterday at Laurel Park.A winner of four straight stakes at Laurel, Merengue completed the nine-furlong race in 1 minute, 52 seconds over a muddy race strip under jockey Rick Wilson. Wilson captured all three stakes races carded this weekend at Laurel, winning the Goss L. Stryker with Goodtobeking and the Sagamore Stakes with Fred Bear Claw on Saturday before guiding this winner for trainer Donald Barr.

Greater snow geese present a burgeoning problem, one the Department of Natural Resources wants to get under control before the population of snows potentially doubles in the next decade.Greater snows have been increasing in the Atlantic Flyway since the mid-1960s. More than 600,000 greater snows now winter in Maryland and Delaware, according to DNR, damaging or destroying habitat critical to the survival of other species -- and perhaps ultimately themselves.Snow geese feed by eating the root stalks of plants such as saltmarsh cordgrass, destroying the entire plant and eventually eliminating the marsh.

The first time the filly G. O'Keefe stepped onto the race track, she jumped a fence and ran home, showing a bad case of nerves. Yesterday, she was steady and resolute.A narrow hole between the filly Assault John and the always-dangerous rail opened up and G. O'Keefe didn't hesitate.With jockey Mark Johnston steering the 4-year-old into the tight quarters with confidence, she came home with the winner's share in the $50,000-added Snow Goose Handicap."It's been a long, hard journey with her," said trainer Donald Barr.

The annual spawning run of shad and herring has ended on the Susquehanna River, and the fish lifts at Conowingo Dam recorded transport upriver of 103,945 American shad, a 70 percent increase over the record set in 1995.The east lift at Conowingo operated for 58 days and passed 90,071 American shad, 242,900 blue-back herring, 1,015 striped bass and 384,400 others, mostly gizzard shad.The average daily catch was 1,568, but during the peaks of the run on May 4, 9 and 18, catches ranged from 6,395 to 6,725.

The first time the filly G. O'Keefe stepped onto the race track, she jumped a fence and ran home, showing a bad case of nerves. Yesterday, she was steady and resolute.A narrow hole between the filly Assault John and the always-dangerous rail opened up and G. O'Keefe didn't hesitate.With jockey Mark Johnston steering the 4-year-old into the tight quarters with confidence, she came home with the winner's share in the $50,000-added Snow Goose Handicap."It's been a long, hard journey with her," said trainer Donald Barr.

Unlike the migratory Canada goose, the snow goose has flourished in the Atlantic Flyway, growing to the point that farmers, landowners and waterfowl managers want great numbers of them eliminated.Snow geese are voracious feeders and destroy habitat by consuming even the roots of plants in coastal marshes and grain fields. The long-term effects of heavy grazing are devastating for other species of waterfowl and wildlife that share habitat with snow geese.Aerial surveys of snow geese on the St. Lawrence River this spring produced an estimate of 800,400 birds staging for their migration north to Bylot Island, the main breeding area in the Canadian Arctic.

MIGRATORY GEESE have returned from Maryland to their nesting grounds in the Canadian north. The January count of Atlantic Flyway waterfowl found sharply divergent trends for the two most prominent species. This could presage a major change in wildlife management.The Canada goose is still in decline, after two years of a hunting ban. Bad weather in the northern Quebec tundra limited reproduction of the bird that symbolizes Chesapeake waterfowl and was long the mainstay of Maryland hunting.

Being an owner, breeder, trainer, farmer and even the feed man on his farm, John Ferguson defines horse racing's home-bred side. Even his wife, Aileen, breaks the yearlings at Hargett Farms in Clarksburg.Although Ferguson does it all, yesterday he experienced a first -- winning a stakes race.Doing the honors at Laurel Park was Aileen's Countess, a 5-year-old mare who took the winner's share of the $50,000 Snow Goose Handicap by three lengths.Fittingly, the victory was secured by a horse named after Aileen Ferguson.