Twin stakes last for Pinnacle meet

Top Touch and Hour by Hour are the respective headliners in Saturday's Michigan Juvenile Fillies and Michigan Futurity, the closing stakes of the 2009 Pinnacle Race Course meet, which concludes on Monday. The races, for Michigan-bred 2-year-olds, are each worth $50,000 and will be contested at a mile.

Top Touch is the track's 7-5 morning-line favorite for the Juvenile Fillies. Trained by Sandy Adkins, Top Touch was a two-length maiden winner on July 28.

In her last start, the Sept. 12 Sickles Image, she yielded stubbornly to eventual Michigan Sire Stakes winner Hustle Now and finished second. Hustle Now is likely to be voted juvenile filly champion in Michigan. Top Touch, by Touch Gold, was not eligible for the Sire Stakes.

Alexis Ortiz gets the mount on Top Touch, who will break from the outside in the six-horse field.

Hour by Hour, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Michigan Futurity, will try to repeat his Sire Stakes performance. He led all the way in the six-furlong race to score by three lengths. Freddie Mata again has the mount for trainer James Jackson.

Hour by Hour drew the rail in the field of 12 colts and geldings.

Prince of Paulie, third as the Sire Stakes favorite, will try to even the score with Hour by Hour, who has beaten him twice in three meetings. The Patrick Wood winner, Prince of Paulie is trained by Richard Rettele, who once again has named Jose J. Delgado to ride. Prince of Paulie will break from post 11.