ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Bob Tiller, who has won the Passing Mood Stakes twice, entered Grace Phil, Princess Pick, and Nikkis Bold Gelato in Saturday’s edition of the seven-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.

Grace Phil, an elegant chestnut by Philanthropist, is trying the grass for the first time. She took the South Ocean Stakes at 2 and an Ontario-sired allowance in her season opener. She has been freshened since finishing a distant fourth as the favorite in the May 20 Lady Angela Stakes.

[bc_video_id:257593:]ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – For a while, the $450,000 owner B. Wayne Hughes paid at auction for the filly Treasured Up looked like good money thrown to the wind.

When Treasured Up finally made her career debut, late in her 2-year-old season last December, she finished second in a maiden race at humble Turfway Park. But since Treasured Up began running two turns on turf and Polytrack, she has begun to close the gap on her heavy price tag, and the filly has a decent chance to win a graded stakes when she faces seven foes Saturday in the $150,000 Arlington Oaks.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has filed a motion with the state’s highest court that intends to establish the legality of instant racing machines, gambling devices that use the results of previously run horse races to generate payouts.

One day before launching what is expected to be another outstanding Saratoga meeting, officials of the New York Racing Association announced that ontrack handle, total handle, and NYRA account wagering all continued upward trends during the recently concluded 55-day Belmont spring-summer meet.

According to NYRA, ontrack handle during the spring-summer meet totaled $88 million, up 13.4 percent from the corresponding period in 2011. All sources handle on NYRA races during the session was $563 million, an increase of 9.4 percent over the previous season.

Trainer Dennis Patterson has looked forward to Saturday’s $75,000 California State Fair Sprint Handicap in Sacramento for some time.

It’s Northern California’s first sprint stakes of 2012 for older fillies and mares, and Patterson believes the six-furlong race is a great spot for the 6-year-old mare Advance Ticket.

And why not? In 22 straight sprints since finishing fourth on Oct. 2, 2009, Advance Ticket has not finished worse than third, including a third in her stakes debut in the Irish O’Brien at Santa Anita this spring.

CINCINNATI – Motega will try to return to her winning ways when facing a full field of 12 Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies in the $75,000 Norm Barron Queen City Oaks on Saturday at River Downs. The card also features the $50,000 Tah Dah for 2-year-old Ohio-bred fillies.

Beginning with the six-furlong Edmonton Juvenile in the first race, Northlands Park will feature four $50,000 stakes races Saturday. The Princess Margaret for 2-year-old fillies follows in the third race. Seven older fillies and mares will contest the one-mile John Patrick Handicap in the seventh, and closing out the stakes bonanza is the one-mile Spangled Jimmy where Commander figures to be favored in the 10-horse field.

Post time for the stakes-rich card is 1 p.m. Mountain.

Marquee races demand marquee racehorses, and Colonial Downs just may have one in Silver Max for their annual highlight, the Virginia Derby. Silver Max has been sensational in putting together a five-race win streak and will be a huge favorite Saturday night when the Grade 2, $600,000 Virginia Derby is run for the 15th time at Colonial in New Kent, Va.

Forrest Kaelin is old-school, which helps to explain the two recent workouts at Ellis Park for his stable star, Good Lord, since the Churchill Downs meet ended.

“I’m not real big on shipping,” said Kaelin, 77. “I like to train where we’re going to run. Even though I live up in Louisville most of the year, we bring everything down here to Ellis for the summer.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Trainer Peter Gregory is hoping a big effort by High End Man in a first-level allowance race at Hastings Saturday will propel the horse into the $50,000 Stellar’s Jay on B.C. Cup Day Aug. 6.

High End Man certainly looks like the one to beat in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up, which drew six horses and goes as the third race.

Also on the eight-race card is the first leg of the Pacific Custom Brokers Marathon Series. The race overfilled and was split into two divisions, going as race 5 and 7.