Fargo Forbes returns home for Saskatoon

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Fargo Forbes, the champion 2-year-old in the province last year, returns to Marquis Downs for Saturday's $6,000 Saskatoon Handicap and should be well backed in this year's first stakes for 3-year-olds.

The $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby goes Sept. 10, the final day of the meet, and the Saskatoon Handicap provides the public with the first glimpse of the local hopefuls. Seven colts and geldings will run six furlongs in the Saskatoon.

Fargo Forbes won the Saskatchewan Futurity and the Western Heritage last year, and his connections decided to try the Alberta circuit this spring. But a lone second-place finish for a $12,000 tag was all Fargo Forbes could muster in five starts and he returns home to friendlier confines for the RJ Stable.

Although never really disgraced in Alberta, Fargo Forbes should find this distance and competition more to his liking.

Lambrose was second in both stakes won by Fargo Forbes last year and went on to win his maiden last fall at Northlands Park for a $20,000 price. This year, however, has been a different story as Lambrose finished seventh in both of his outings, and improvement will be needed to score an upset.

Wind Dancer ran fourth in the Heritage and then was beaten just 3 1/2 lengths as the fourth-place finisher in the Prairie Lily Sales Stake, finishing ahead of both Fargo Forbes and Lambrose. Wind Dancer's lone start in 2005 was a winning one as he gained more than five lengths in the final quarter-mile.

Serge Rocheleau, regular rider of Fargo Forbes last year, has the mount on Wind Dancer.