With mountains, water, and shimmering glass towers, Vancouver, British Columbia, can rightfully lay claim to being one of North America’s prettiest cities. But as country musician Kelsea Ballerini aptly observed, even the homecoming queen cries.

Hastings Racecourse, which opens its 45-date meet Saturday, occupies an idyllic plot of land near Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet. With free admission, an on-site casino, and fun promotions like wiener dog days, it’s a nice place to spend some time, grab a beverage, and lay a few loonies on the line.

ARCADIA, Calif. – At least one 1 1/4-mile stakes race Saturday has John Shirreffs’s name on it. The trainer hopes there are two.

California-based Shirreffs has been in Kentucky all week training Baeza for a potential start in the Kentucky Derby. But as of Thursday, Baeza remained stuck on the also-eligible list needing one defection to draw into the 20-horse Derby field.

Howie Gibson traveled to Turf Paradise for the first time as a trainer with no expectations. Based at Emerald Downs, he’d galloped horses and worked for Washington state Hall of Famer Frank Lucarelli at the Phoenix track, but this was the first time Gibson had ventured to the desert to hang his own shingle.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There is so much talent lined up in the Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs that one might think this is the first Saturday in November, not the first Saturday in May.

For many of these female sprinters, the Derby City Distaff could very well be the first step toward the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There are two Kentucky Derby winners running Saturday.

One will not be crowned until the early evening hours at Churchill Downs, while the other will be in action at Oaklawn Park.

It was on the first Saturday in May a year ago that the Arkansas-owned Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby in a three-way battle to the wire. He’s back in front of a home crowd Saturday to start in the $200,000 Lake Ouachita Stakes.

ETOBIOCOKE, Ontario – The once-beaten speedster Earhart cuts back to six furlongs off a layoff in the $150,000 Whimsical Stakes on Saturday at Woodbine and should be favored in the Grade 3 fixture for fillies and mares.

Trained by Josie Carroll for LNJ Foxwoods, Earhart made quite a splash while debuting here on Nov. 9, wiring maidens by 6 3/4 lengths with an 86 Beyer Speed Figure. A month later, she annexed the first-allowance condition in another seven-furlong Tapeta tilt, winning by 11 lengths with a big 96 Beyer under Rafael Hernandez, who has the mount on Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Integration, by rights, is out to win the Grade 1, $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic. Six of his last nine starts, most competitive performances, came at the Grade 1 level, and no one else in Saturday’s race can boast such a résumé.

The Turf Classic’s 1 1/8 miles might be the horse’s best distance. Integration enters on a good pattern – second start following a layoff – after being pointed toward this race for months by Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. He’s well drawn in post 1 with legendary jockey Frankie Dettori at the controls.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Bob Baffert has trained some great horses over the years, American Pharaoh and Arrogate the first two that come to mind. But neither they nor the undefeated Justify, who won all of his six starts, including the 2018 Triple Crown, launched their careers in as sensational fashion as one of Baffert’s latest stars.

Nysos, owned by the Baoma Corporation, captured his first three outings by a combined 26 3/4 lengths before having his 3-year-old campaign come to an abrupt halt following a 7 1/2-length triumph in the Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes in February of 2024.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kenny McPeek is Derby dreaming with Maximum Promise – but not Saturday’s Kentucky Derby. The colt will run earlier on the Saturday card at Churchill Downs in the Grade 1, $1 million American Turf, with his eyes on a classic across the Atlantic.

“If he runs well in the American Turf, the intention is to take him to Epsom and run him in the English Derby,” McPeek said. “I think he’s going to want a mile and a half, and he’d be going into that race a horse that’s fit and ready to go.”