Simms stalls runneth over with Cup Races candidates

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer John Simms is sitting comfortably for the upcoming $30,000 Cup Races to be run through Sept. 5. The eight-race series starts Aug. 7 with the six-furlong Don Valliere Memorial for colts and geldings.

The series ends with the 1 1/16-mile turf doubleheader of the Puss n Boots for colts and geldings and the Centre Stage Anne for fillies and mares on Sept. 5. The Cup Races are restricted to runners that have started twice at the current meet. Half of the races are for fillies and mares, the other half for males.

Five of the 18 nominated for the Don Valliere are in Simms's 24-horse barn.

"I'll run two in there, probably Sparkman and Disbelief," said Simms. "Sparkman is definitely going. He's pretty sharp.

"I'm leaning to run Disbelief there, but I'm also open about running him in the next one," the 1 1/16-mile Peace Bridge Cup on Aug. 14. "I'm not counting out two turns for this horse."

Disbelief, 4, has won four sprints this year. He was second in his lone lifetime start at a longer distance.

Simms has 3 of the 10 fillies or mares nominated for the 1 1/16-mile Golden Horseshoe, also Aug. 14. His stakes-winning Roman Romance, 7, heads the list.

"This is probably Roman's last year," he said. "It's not the money, but I just want to add as much as I can to her page. There's nothing at Woodbine for her right now."

Meanwhile, Simms will saddle Classy Flower in an allowance on Sunday at the Fort.

"I want to qualify her for later turf races," he said. "She will be salty."

Lenny the Lender wants action

Trainer Dick Jukosky hasn't had much luck getting action for Lenny the Lender. Lenny the Lender, 9, must win a race this year to be eligible to compete in Ontario next year.

Lenny the Lender finished third to Le Cinquieme Essai in the Daryl Wells Sr. Memorial here July 4. It was his lone start this year.

Few long turf races, which are Lenny's specialty, are written at Woodbine or Fort Erie since they are hard to fill. Jukosky entered Lenny the Lender for a dirt race here Saturday but it didn't go.

"Lenny is sharp right now," said Jukosky, the gelding's owner-trainer. "That's why I entered him on the dirt. I want to get a race into him before the Halton."

In the last two editions of the $125,000 Halton, a yearling sales stakes at Woodbine, Lenny the Lender finished second. Both times, Mobil was the winner.

Jukosky fears that A Bit O'Gold, the impressive winner of last week's Grade 2 Chinese Cultural Centre at Woodbine, might run in the Halton.

"I don't mind running against Mobil or A Bit O'Gold," he said. "But I wouldn't like to run against both."

Trainer Catherine Day Phillips has said that A Bit O'Gold is being considered for the Grade 1 Canadian International and that the Halton is an optional stepping-stone.

* The Ontario Racing Commission on Thursday approved an amendment to this year's live racing schedule at Fort Erie. The four Fridays scheduled in the month of August were deleted, and two racing dates were added to the final week of the season - Friday, Oct. 28, and Tuesday, Nov. 1 (closing day).