Chocolateforlunch the one to try and catch

FORT ERIE, Ontario - A small but talented field of six will contest the Fort Erie Slots Cup on Sunday.

The $28,750 Slots Cup is a six-furlong race, restricted to fillies and mares who have started at least twice at Fort Erie this year.

There are two standout speed runners in the field in Chocolateforlunch from the Lyle Morden barn and Snow Rite, who is owned and trained by Luthia Shirley.

Chocolateforlunch has won three in a row since returning to the Fort from Woodbine, and Rui Pimentel has been aboard for all three races.

Off a step slowly in her latest five-furlong sprint, Chocolateforlunch still gained the lead before hitting the turn, and she looms as the one to beat here.

Snow Rite, who will have Mike McMullen in the saddle, won her first start of the year with a gate-to-wire effort going six furlongs.

In her most recent, Snow Rite led into midstretch before a couple of rivals who are in this event got the better of her.

Those two, Selective Shopper and Rosie Regent, will be waiting in the wings for any signs of weakness in the front-running duo.

Selective Shopper gets the outside post with Daniel David taking the reins for trainer Daryl Ezra. Rosie Regent, trained by Henry Reid, will have her regular rider, Melanie Pinto, back in the saddle.

These two runners have met twice recently and have traded first- and second-place finishes.

Selective Shopper has been waiting on the sidelines since June 21 with this event in mind, and her recent five-furlong prep suggests she is ready for duty.

African Rainbow, trained by James Woods with Eddie Robinson in the saddle, and Waltzing Time, from the Lynn Simon barn with Anthony Stephen aboard, complete the field.

Some still think it was a dead heat

The local community has been buzzing all week about the photo finish in last Sunday's $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes, which was won by Gallant over the game filly Milwaukee Appeal.

In most instances at Fort Erie, the result of a photo finish is posted within a minute following the race. But when minutes passed and no result was announced, most fans believed it was too close to call and that a dead heat was in the works.

Finally, the word came down: Gallant had won and the photo-finish camera had given him the victory by a thin sliver. When the photo was presented to the public on the grandstand televisions, that sliver of light between the nose of Milwaukee Appeal and the wire was not that easy to find.

There are still skeptics here who believe it was a dead heat, and nothing will change their minds.