Apprentices try to keep rolling along

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It's been a long time since apprentice riders ranked first and second in the Woodbine jockey standings, but that's the case heading into Wednesday's eight-race card.

Emma Wilson leads the standings with 33 victories, which is one win better than Corey Fraser, who was voted the Sovereign Award as Canada's top apprentice in 2004. Both riders have a mount in Wednesday's headliner, a seven-furlong allowance for fillies and mares.

Fraser will ride Sapporo, who won her maiden in front-running style over a speed-favoring track when she debuted in a five-furlong maiden special on May 4. In her most recent appearance May 19, she finished second to favored Navajo Princess in a six-furlong allowance.

Steve Attard trains Sapporo, who is the lone 3-year-old in the five-horse field.

Wilson has the call aboard longshot Pinwinee Whiskey, a 5-year-old who toppled $10,000 nonwinners-of-two opposition in November. She wasn't a factor in either of her outings this year, both in low-level conditioned claimers.

Rounding out the field for Wednesday's feature are Hong Kong Dancer, West Beware, and Wine Me 'n Dine Me.

Stakes-placed Hong Kong Dancer should be the favorite. She romped in her first two starts last spring, getting Beyer Figures in the mid-80's, but was shelved for the summer after running a distant fourth in the Labatt Woodbine Oaks in June.

Hong Kong Dancer finished third and fifth in a pair of $62,500 optional claimers in October, and then capped her campaign by running third in the seven-furlong Jammed Lovely Stakes. In her lone start this year, she showed nothing after breaking slowly in a $62,500 event won by Believe in Missy, who subsequently captured the restricted Ballade Stakes.

Jim McAleney will ride Hong Kong Dancer for trainer Reade Baker.

West Beware defeated entry-level allowance types in October with an 84 Beyer. She finished fifth of 12 when she came off the sidelines May 1, and then came up empty when she stretched out to a route for her second start of the season.

Most recently, in a seven-furlong allowance, West Beware had traffic problems along the inside and finished second behind a sharp Reputed Deeds.

Wine Me 'n Dine Me earned the highest last-out Beyer in the field, an 80, when she won a $40,000 conditioned claimer by four lengths on June 1. She benefited from an inside bias while pressing a slow pace in that race, and may be hard-pressed to duplicate that performance in this tougher spot.