Overact has plenty of competition

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With Regal Red on the sidelines, the older filly and mare division at Hastings is looking for a new leader. Saturday's $40,000 Brighouse Belles could provide a clue as to who is going to step up and take control of the division.

The 1 1/16-mile race is not lacking in star power. Last year's Grade 3 B.C. Oaks winner, Summer Symphony, has been entered. So has See Me Through, who beat Summer Symphony in the Grade 3 Ballerina. Victor's Secret could be the favorite. She won this race last year and is coming off of a second to Pretty Meadow in the 6 1/2-furlong Sun Handicap May 14.

Trainer Dave Forster has entered both Summer Symphony and Overact, and according to Forster, Overact is the sharper of the two. Her very impressive five-furlong work in 58.60 seconds June 4 would certainly back up his contention. She has been right there in most of her races, including a win in the $100,000 Sonoma Handicap at Northlands Park last August.

The wild card in the race is Spirit to Spare. A Saskatchewan-bred, Spirit to Spare has won 5 of her 8 starts, but the only time she tried stakes company she finished up the track in the Hastings Park Handicap at Emerald Downs May 8.

She came back to win an allowance race at Hastings May 23 but she was trying to get out for most of the race. Her trainer, Tom Longstaff, changed her bit for a solid five-furlong work in 59.20 seconds June 4, and she stayed on the rail the whole way.