Veterans could excel in route

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A couple of horses eligible for old-age pension look very live in Sunday's feature race at Hastings, a $15,000 claiming race at 1 1/16 miles.

Find Our Star, who is 10-years-old, and Colonial Secretary, 11, might not be as good as when they were winning stakes races in their youth, but they should certainly be competitive in this

11-horse field. It also wouldn't be surprising to see Find Our Star leave the starting gate as the post-time favorite.

Find Our Star, trained by Terry Jordan, has done most of his running at Emerald Downs. His many stakes wins at Emerald include the 1995 Eagle Hardware and Garden Derby. He has also shown an affinity for Hastings, winning four races here, and is coming into Sunday's race off a very good effort, finishing second in a $15,000 claiming sprint on July 20.

Find Our Star also has good tactical speed, and it's likely that jockey Sam Krasner will have him sitting just off a moderate pace set by Dubious Command.

Colonial Secretary ran in the 1995 Belmont Stakes, finishing ninth under Jose Santos, the rider of Funny Cide, this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner. His last win was in the 2001 Sir Winston Churchill at Hastings, but he finished a close fourth in his most recent race, a $20,000 route on July 19.

Colonial Secretary's lack of speed will not help him in a race that figures to have moderate fractions. He's trained by Steve Bryant, and Cyatanno Chaparro will ride.

Dubious Command looks like the lone speed, and unless another horse alters style, he could be very tough to get past in the stretch.