Several with upside to take on Futurity favorites

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Proud Son and Lord Samari are the only stakes winners in the Jack Diamond Futurity, which goes as the ninth race Sunday, but don't be surprised if another horse jumps up and wins the race. There's plenty of upside to many of the lightly raced 2-year-olds in the race and just about anything is possible when 10 juveniles run on the tight-turned Hastings oval.

Leaveuwithasmile has started only twice. He won on the 3 1/2-furlong Nursery Course and then turned in a very good effort to finish third in the New Westminster Stakes on Aug. 17. He has had two solid five-furlong workouts since and his trainer, Terry Clyde, thinks he'll run a big race Sunday.

"He got pretty tired in the New Westminster," she said. "It was his first time going around two turns and he had a pretty wide trip. I think he'll move up considerably in the Futurity."

Clyde was also pleased with Leaveuwithasmile's last five-furlong workout in 1:02.40 last Sunday.

"He's never really worked very fast, so I was a bit surprised at how quick he went in his latest work," she said. "He did it really easily and that tells me that he's really coming around."

Another horse that figures to move forward off of his last race is Caledonia Road. A good-looking son of Marquetry, he has displayed tremendous speed in his training but until his last race he didn't really have his act together when it counted. He was the 3-5 favorite in his Nursery Course debut but broke a step slowly and finished a distant third.

He returned in a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race and again was an odds-on choice, but was very rank early and set extremely fast fractions before tiring badly to once again finish a distant third. He looked like a completely different horse in his last race, setting modest fractions while appearing totally relaxed, and he posted a solid 1 1/2-length win. That was only six days ago, and his part-owner and trainer, Dave Milburn, was a bit concerned about how he'll respond returning this quickly.

"I'm not crazy about running him back this soon, but he came out of his race in excellent shape and you don't get to run for $100,000 every day," he said. "He's really matured lately and that's often the case for horses by Marquetry."

Milburn also was pretty clear about the strategy his rider, Larry Lacoursiere, will use on Sunday.

"We're going to go to the front," he said. "He's got good speed and there's no sense in getting hung out wide if you don't have to."

With Milburn tipping his hand, there's not much doubt the pace will be lively. That could help Future Flash, who is a full brother to 2002 British Columbia Derby winner Cruising Kat. He's only started once but he made quite an impression, making up 17 lengths to win by two over Farewell Cowboys, who is also entered in the Futurity. Caledonia Road finished third.

"What I liked about his race is that he was very green for the first part and then really started running once he figured out what was going on," said Future Flash's trainer and part-owner, Daryl Snow. "He acts like the race woke him up, but even though he'll probably be a bit more aggressive I don't expect him to be near the pace. He just doesn't have that kind of early speed. He'll be a smarter and fitter horse, that's for sure."

Trainer Tak Inouye likes the way his filly Regal Grace is coming up to the Sadie Diamond Futurity, also on Sunday. Regal Grace is coming off of a brave win under Anrella Villeseche in the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Sales Stakes on Aug. 30, and Inouye thinks she's ready for what should be a stiffer test here.

"Going into the Sales Stakes I didn't think that I was running the best horse," he said. "But the way she ran and came out of the race I think I just might have the best horse in this race."

Inouye won many stakes races as a rider, including the 1965 Queen's Plate aboard Whistling Sea, but the CTHS Sales Stake was his first as a trainer.

"I was pretty excited," he said. "But more for Anrella than myself. She's a great rider but she just doesn't get many chances."

Speaking of riders, Jim McAleney has signed on to ride Royal Place in the B.C. Derby next Sunday. Royal Place is owned by K. K. Sangara, who claimed him for $62,500 out of a winning race on the turf at Del Mar on Aug. 29.