Pace figures hot in Valliere Memorial Cup

FORT ERIE, Ontario – The $30,000 Don Valliere Memorial Cup highlights Sunday’s nine-race card at Fort Erie. Eight geldings will go to post in the six-furlong sprint and a very competitive group will give handicappers a serious challenge to sort out the winner.

Trainer Lyle Morden’s Teacher Boyne has won four in a row this year over this surface and won all three his races last year when competing at the Fort.

Overall, Teacher Boyne is 7 for 9 here and has finished third in the other two outings. Speed is his game, and Melanie Pinto will back aboard for owner Herbert Chambers.

The Valliere Memorial will not be a cakewalk for Teacher Boyne as there is other speed in the likes of Daverick and Gantu, and there is every chance that the hot pace could find the front-runners wilting in the late going.

Daverick will be sent out by trainer Justin Nixon and romped in his last two starts, winning with a going-away margin in both sprints. Francine Villeneuve takes the call.

Gantu has been sent off as the favorite in his last three starts at the Fort, just missing in the first two outings and then shaking clear to win his latest. Trainer Pat Parente has named Sunny Singh to ride.

Spread the News, a 6-year-old gelding trained by John Simms, chased Teacher Boyne to the wire in his last and will be looking to turn the tables. A winner of $350,298 lifetime, Spread the News racked up an 80 Beyer Speed Figure when going gate to wire in early June. He is versatile, though, and can sit back and stalk the probable pace battle.

Spread the News, owned by Thomas Grimes, will get leading rider Krista Carignan in the saddle,

The other closer in the field with top-three potential is Tyler’s Jewel, who is trained by Marilyn McMullen.

A winner in his latest at 6 1/2 furlongs, Tyler’s Jewel rallied strongly from well back to nip rivals at the wire. Mike McMullen retains the mount.

Quarter Horses returning to Fort

The Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium has announced the return of Quarter Horse racing to the Fort this fall.

Quarter Horse cards are scheduled for the first three Saturdays in October and mixed-race cards will be held on the final weekend of the Fort Erie meet on both Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 23 and Oct. 24.

This will be a pilot project that also will see Quarter Horse racing here in the 2011 and 2012 seasons.