Three stakes highlight opening-day card

Three stakes races, free parking, and free admission will be offered Sunday when Portland Meadows opens its 36-day 2014-15 season.

The track offers live racing on Sundays and Wednesdays (except Christmas Eve) with a special race card also offered New Year’s Day. First post is at noon Pacific each day.

Deep fields await fans on opening day when four Quarter Horse and seven Thoroughbred races will be offered.

The card is highlighted by a pair of 5 1/2-furlong sprint stakes, the Diamond Lake Handicap for fillies and mares and Frog Leg Handicap for males. The purse is $9,000 for each race.

Jockey Javier Matias could get off to a big start at the meet. He is listed to ride the favorite in both Thoroughbred stakes as well as Eyes Movin, the 3-1 morning-line choice, in the $8,000 Directors Handicap, a 350-yard event for Quarter Horses.

Matias will ride Ms. Sutherland, the 5-2 choice in the Diamond Lake. The 5-year-old Ms. Sutherland, trained by Roddina Barrett, won her maiden last year in her lone start here. She has won three times this year, including her two most recent starts.

Hetty, who drew the rail, is listed at 7-2. The 3-year-old I Thought So, listed at 4-1, breaks from the outside No. 7 post.

The 3-year-old Grinder Sparksaglo, who won his maiden two back at Emerald Downs and followed up with a victory in an optional $40,000 claimer, is the 2-1 choice in the Frog Leg. He drew post 7 in the field of eight, just inside Midda’s Gold Touch, who has scored all 11 career victories at Portland Meadows, including the Sprint Championship last year.

Season highlights include Oregon Championship Day with nine Oregon-bred stakes on Dec. 14; the meet’s premier event and richest race, the $35,000 Portland Mile on Jan. 25; and the one-mile Oregon Derby on Feb. 8 before the meeting ends on Feb. 11.