ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – The connections of so many 2-year-old fillies had designs on the Arlington-Washington Lassie that one of them had to switch to the Arlington-Washington Futurity to find a spot to race here Saturday.

The Lassie drew an overflow field of 15 entrants, and with only seven horses entered in the Futurity, the connections of Scissortail G stuck her in that race instead. The addition of the filly brought the Futurity field up to just eight. Both races are contested over a one-turn mile on Polytrack.

AUBURN, Wash. – With less activity at the top of the market, average and median auction prices declined during the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s annual summer yearling sale Tuesday at Emerald Downs.

Trainer Doris Harwood purchased the sale topper, a full brother to two-time Washington champion Noosa Beach – by Harbor the Gold, from the Basket Weave mare Julia Rose – for $55,000 from consignors Bar C Racing Stables of Hermiston, Ore.

POMONA, Calif. – The expansive freeway system in Southern California makes it easy to find a major racetrack – Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, and Del Mar are located near key arteries.

While those three tracks host most of the circuit’s year-round racing calendar, autumn always marks a welcome return to Fairplex Park, the five-furlong dirt track where the Los Angeles County Fair meet begins Friday with optimism – short term and long range.

The big-timers are coming to Presque Isle Downs, courtesy of horse vans and charter flights from New York. Jockeys Ramon Dominguez, Javier Castellano, and Rajiv Maragh are among those in for the best weekend of the meet at the Erie, Pa., track, with the Friday feature being the $250,000 Presque Isle Downs Mile.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Thirteen 3-year-olds were entered for the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby on Wednesday morning. Only 12 will be allowed to run in the 1 1/8-mile feature that headlines a 10-race card that includes five other stakes races at Hastings on Sunday.

The Troy Taylor-trained and Glen Todd-owned entry of Taylors Deal, Hoist, and Devil in Disguise will be favored in the race.

Two $50,000 turf stakes scheduled for this coming weekend at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course have been rescheduled for the weekend of Sept. 14-15 because of heavy rainfall in central Pennsylvania the past several days.

The $50,000 Alison McClay Stakes for 3-year-old fillies will now be contested on Friday, Sept. 14. The inaugural running of the $50,000 Thomas Clifton for 3-year-olds has been reset for Saturday, Sept. 15.

The rapidly improving Ohio-bred 3-year-old Eyes Super Freaky heads a field of 13 statebreds entered for Friday’s $50,000 Governor’s Buckeye Cup, which will be contested at 1 1/4 miles.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Corey Nakatani, who aggravated a shoulder injury when pulling up an injured horse on Monday, took off his mounts on closing day Wednesday at Del Mar after working horses that morning.

“He’s better, but he’s not 100 percent, and he didn’t think he’d be doing his horses justice today,” his agent, Brian Beach, said Wednesday morning. “He thinks it’s best to let it cool down. He was going to ride on Saturday at Fairplex, but he’s going to take that day off, too, so the next day he’ll ride is on Sept. 15 at Belmont Park.”

Vital Sign and Royal Grand will appreciate the easier company they will be facing when they run in a second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park on Friday. The six-furlong sprint drew six horses and goes as race 7 on an eight-race card that begins at 6 p.m. Mountain.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Rousing Sermon will get another crack at Blueskiesnrainbows on Saturday, when the Southern California shippers meet at Louisiana Downs for the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby.

Blueskiesnrainbows won the Grade 2 Swaps over Rousing Sermon back in July, and on the strength of that effort Blueskiesnrainbows was installed the 3-2 morning-line favorite for the 33rd edition of the Super Derby when entries were taken Wednesday. Blueskiesnrainbows will break from post 3 in a field of nine for what is the richest race of the meet at Louisiana Downs.