Canterbury Park is making a concerted effort to appeal to horseplayers during its 51-date meet that opens Saturday night in Shakopee, Minn, and runs through Sept. 20.

The track is focused on increasing field and pool sizes, and it will again offer both a strong dose of turf racing and a reduced takeout on its pick five wager.

“I think what’s kind of become our calling card is the 10 percent takeout pick five,” said Jeff Maday, spokesman for Canterbury. “We’re going to offer that and we’ve moved it to start in race 2 every race day.

Many believed Field of Gold should have won the English 2000 Guineas on May 3 at Newmarket. Even more think he will win the Irish 2000 Guineas on Saturday at The Curragh.

English bookmakers as of Thursday offered Field of Gold at odds-on to win the one-mile Irish classic, where he faces eight runners under a new jockey, Colin Keane.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Pivotal Moment concedes a lot in experience and recency to his eight rivals in Saturday’s $150,000 Paradise Creek Stakes at Aqueduct, but the visual of his maiden victory may be too much for bettors to ignore.

Pivotal Moment made an eye-catching move from sixth to first around the far turn when he won a five-furlong maiden race at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 22, a race in which he was eased up at the end yet still won by four lengths.

ARCADIA, Calif. – California-breds of all types are in the limelight Saturday at Santa Anita, from well-regarded 2-year-old fillies making career debuts to a 7-year-old gelding who looks like a slam dunk on a program with five stakes for statebreds worth $100,000 or more.

The star on Saturday is Kings River Knight, favored to wire the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes, which goes as race 8. The veteran is the only free square Saturday. The maiden race for 2-year-old fillies and four other stakes on the 10-race card are more competitive.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There are no stakes on Saturday’s nine-race card at Woodbine, during which two allowance/optional-claimers for fillies and mares will be run, making up half of the late pick four.

Trainer Mark Casse sends out the trio of Lunch With Bernie, Catch the Drift, and Logistics in the seventh, a six-furlong sprint combining non-winners of two with $50,000 3-year-olds.

While it wouldn’t be fair to say that Travel the Map’s victory in his Emerald Downs debut on May 3 was a surprise, the dominant manner in which he won was nevertheless eye-catching. A 1-2 favorite in the $5,000 claiming race, the 5-year-old son of Liam’s Map went right to the lead in the 5 1/2-furlong sprint and never let up, winning by 9 1/2 lengths.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A favorable pace scenario benefits Kings River Knight on Saturday at Santa Anita, where the veteran gelding seeks his third victory in a stakes race that he practically owns.

Kings River Knight is the lone speed in the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes, a turf mile for California-breds he won as the odds-on favorite the past two years. But this year is different. Kings River Knight, 7 years old, enters off a sixth-place comeback, the lowest finish of his career.

You think of late spring, summer, East Coast turf stakes, and Chad Brown, and you think of New York, right? No doubt, year after year, Brown hits harder than any trainer in such races. But do not forget about New Jersey.

The $250,000 Keertana Stakes is the Saturday feature at Churchill Downs – but not by a wide margin.

Not when the 10-race program includes a stakes-class turf sprint allowance worth $141,000, a second-level allowance with a $134,000 purse, and a first-level allowance offering up $127,000 in available money. Throw in a couple $120,000 maiden special weights and total purses on the program, including Kentucky incentives, top the $1 million mark. That’s remarkable for a relatively nondescript “between Triple Crown races” Saturday.

Trainer Joe Orseno is hopeful Rezasrolex can keep his win streak alive on Friday when the horse returns from a nine-month layoff in the opener at Gulfstream Park.

Rezasrolex has won his last three starts – and five of his last six – coming into the $25,000 starter allowance over 5 1/2 furlongs on Tapeta. His last three wins have come in starter allowances on the synthetic track at Gulfstream. Rezasrolex will be making his first start since Aug. 24.