Snow Face Princess already has put together a good 2-year-old campaign. Fourth in her career debut on dirt, she proceeded to capture a turf-sprint maiden race at Saratoga before getting up late to win the $145,500 Bolton Landing over the same course, earning more than $142,000 in those three starts.

The summer was even more lucrative for her former owner, Gary Lewin, who put Snow Face Princess in the Fasig-Tipton digital sale that ran between Aug. 21-26. The filly topped the online auction, fetching $775,000 – $665,000 more than she’d brought as a yearling.

Sushi Man will be looking for his fourth consecutive win at the Canterbury Park meet on Saturday night when he faces older horses in the $50,000 Blair’s Cove.

“We’re trying to make it a perfect meet,” said trainer Coty Rosin. “We’re trying to get him a horse of the meet. Our owners are from Minnesota.”

The Blair’s Cove, which is for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on turf, is part of the popular Minnesota Champions card at Canterbury. It includes six stakes for Thoroughbreds and three for Quarter Horses. The races are restricted to horses bred in Minnesota.

St. Benedicts Prep will return to Laurel Park in search of her second stakes victory in the $100,000 Twixt Stakes on Saturday. The 5-year-old mare has had trouble finding the winner’s circle elsewhere, but trainer Linda Rice has had better luck shipping her to Maryland.

Lennilu, a prospect for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, and Finding Strength, who owns a significant Beyer Speed Figure, make for an intriguing matchup in the Desert Vixen division of the Florida Sire Stakes series that begins Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The card includes the $100,000 Dr. Fager division of the Florida Sire Stakes and the $70,000 Mambo Meister, an overnight handicap at a mile on turf that drew a competitive field of 11. Both of the Sire Stakes races are for 2-year-olds at six furlongs.

Though she is still on the hunt for her first stakes victory, Evershed has the chance to cement herself as one of the best 3-year-old turf fillies in the country in the $250,000 Old Dominion Oaks at Colonial Downs on Saturday.

“We had the chance to go to Kentucky Downs or Colonial Downs,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. “Those were the two logical spots to me, and looking at everything, she’s placed in a Grade 2 and it would be great to get her that first stakes win.”

The sun shone bright on Mi Bago all winter in Florida. A stakes winner sprinting on the Woodbine turf as a juvenile, he took three straight stakes in his campaign at Gulfstream Park ranging from 7 1/2 furlongs to a mile and 70 yards.

I hate that Kentucky Downs could come up wet for their big Saturday. That course is tricky under the best of circumstances, more so after rain. That shouldn’t hurt Fort Washington, who missed the cut here because he drew poorly in the Turf Cup. Here are two other Kentucky Downs plays and a wise-guy Colonial opinion.

Music City

One of the stronger stakes on the card, the Music City holds betting appeal because Shisospicy figures to be favored, and I want no part of her. Moreover, prevailing opinion probably sees Kilwin as superior on dirt. I don’t agree.

It might have taken five tries to win his first race, but in the span of three months World Beater has gone from an overdue maiden to a Grade 1 winner. After a successful stint at Saratoga this summer, the 3-year-old colt seems poised to live up to his name in the Grade 3, $500,000 Old Dominion Derby at Colonial Downs on Saturday.

“The timing of the race was really good for us,” trainer Riley Mott said. “It’s five weeks between races. He’s still a developing horse, and we like the contour of the track at Colonial and the shape that it’s in.”

Grand Sonata’s participation in the $2 million Turf Cup last year at Kentucky Downs came as something of an afterthought. The horse had run well over the course in the 2022 Dueling Grounds Derby, so there was that, and when he barely ran at all in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga, connections decided to roll the dice and run back on two weeks’ rest.

Grand Sonata, at odds of 15-1, won the Turf Cup by a half-length. Since that time, the Grade 2, $2.5 million Turf Cup on Saturday has stood as the horse’s main goal.