racingmeridian.com

…depressing news arrives from the equine front with word of the deaths of Cozzene and Princess Rooney. Cozzene had such an impact on the local scene, most memorably when his son Alphabet Soup won the Breeders Cup Classic at Woodbine in 1996, upsetting Cigar. We were also graced for years by the presence of the game stakes winner Cozzene’s Prince and, of course, turfer Lodge Hill. Princess Rooney won the first Breeders Cup Distaff and accounted for an astonishing 17 of her 21 lifetime starts…multiple stakes winner and, for a while locally based, Dreaming of Anna has been retired. A game and determined front runner, the filly beat the boys in the Summer Stakes at Woodbine in 2006 before going wire to wire in that years Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was an absolute pleasure to watch…we’re all sweating our NHL pool picks as the season gets underway tomorrow night. A few thoughts…quietly, Columbus has made some changes to assist Rick Nash and he should respond with buckets of goals. In Los Angeles Anze Kopitar will be given clear reign as the number one centre and the leader of the powerplay. His totals should soar. A cautionary note, San Jose brought in Brain Boucher for the expressed purpose of reducing Evengi Nabakov’s workload. In Detroit it appears Pavel Datsyuk will be paired with Marian Hossa, while Henrik “Hank” Zetterberg will shuffle back to the “second” line. In Chicago Martin Havlat is in the final year of his contract. The oft injured sniper could be motivated to put up memorable points. Mike Green of Washington may be available late, snag the carbon copy of Paul Coffey as he should be the point on a deadly Capitals powerplay. One of the great challenges of pool drafts this year is what to do with Simon Gagne. The elite level sniper is supposedly recovered from the series of concussions which decimated his 2007-08 season but we’ve heard these types of statements before…damn right Brad Boyes is for real. The Blues winger can notch 40 goals this year…and no, it is okay if you snuck Shane Doan onto your team. The Coyote should log major ice time, including the powerplay, on a team energized by the acquisition of Olli Jokinen and the advancement of a core of young players…NHL rosters must be within salary cap parameters by 3pm today…the European Golf Tour has announced a schedule which culminates in a 20 million dollar event in Dubai. Whispers have Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson considering moving their tack overseas…