Take your pick of Taylor duo

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Troy Taylor figures to extend his lead in the race for leading trainer when he sends out a strong coupling of Windy Day and Zippy Zak in the feature race at Hastings Sunday. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up running for a top claiming price of $8,000 drew eight horses.

Going into the final six days of racing, Taylor has won 42 races at the meet, three more than Toni Cloutier, who has entered Dalton Green in the Sunday feature.

Either Windy Day or Zippy Zak would likely be favored on his own merit. Windy Day is coming off of a half-length win over longshot Lend Me an Ear in an $11,000 claming race at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 6, and he's won 2 of his last 3 races. His fourth-place finish in a $25,000 claiming race Sept. 22 was also a very good effort.

A 5-year-old B.C.-bred gelding, Zippy Zak has won four sprints in a row and his worst finish from seven starts at the meet was a fourth-place finish in his initial start of the year. Zippy Zak has never raced farther than 6 1/2 furlongs in his 26-race career but he acts like a horse that won't have any trouble stretching out to 1 1/16 miles.

Mario Gutierrez has been named to ride both horses.

There is plenty of speed in the field and the race could set up nicely for Louder. Trained by Ned Sams, Louder finished a couple of lengths behind Windy Day last time, but he had to go five wide while making a strong move around the stretch turn while Windy Day got through along the rail.