Plenty of stars to go around

A star-studded field of older horses will meet in the feature race at Northlands Park Sunday. Take your pick as to which horse is the most illustrious: Footprint, the horse of the year in Alberta in 2007; Inuit Fisher, the champion sprinter in the province last year; Tanika, the 2008 older filly or mare champ; or Test Boy, who beat True Metropolitan in the Speed to Spare last year.

The six-furlong distance of the classified allowance race points to Inuit Fisher as the horse to beat. There is a $40,000 claiming option on the race but, not surprisingly, none of the horses has been entered for a price.

Trained by Dale Saunders, Inuit Fisher won his first four starts in 2008, including the 6 1/2-furlong Journal Handicap at Northlands. He also finished second behind Teagues Fight in the Sun Sprint Championship. If he runs his race he'll be tough to beat in his first start this year.

Quincy Welch rides Inuit Fisher.

Footprint started out 2008 with a bang, winning back-to-back races, including the $50,000 Teeworth Plate. Footprint hasn't raced since he lost by a neck to Teagues Fight in the $50,000 Spangled Jimmy on July 5.

Tanika will be taking on the boys for the second time in her career, and she was successful the first time, winning a maiden special weight race at Northlands in 2006. Tanika has never finished worse than second in any of her races in Alberta, winning 9 of her 15 starts in the province.

Test Boy is also a multiple stakes winner, but he probably wants more distance.

Arthurlooksgood and Market Force round out the excellent field.