FORT ERIE, Ontario – Irish Mission and Dixie Strike, fillies who were the 2-3 finishers in the June  24 Queen’s Plate, will renew their rivalry here Sunday in the $500,000 Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales is the second leg of the triple crown of the Canadian-bred 3-year-olds and will be run over 1 3/16 miles on Fort Erie’s dirt oval.

The Queen’s Plate, run over 1 1/4 miles of Polytrack, and Woodbine’s Aug. 5 Breeders’ Stakes, at 1 1/2 miles on the turf, are the other events triple crown events.

AUBURN, Wash. – Mario Gutierrez will stop at Emerald Downs on Sunday as he makes his way north to Hastings in Vancouver, B.C., where the jockey of the moment plans to ride for the balance of the summer. Gutierrez, whose Triple Crown dream was aborted when I’ll Have Another suffered career-ending injuries before the Belmont Stakes, has mounts in five of the nine races and will ride both halves of a stakes doubleheader for 3-year-olds.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – A large and supportive crowd is expected for Prince of Wales Day at Fort Erie on Sunday. And, while many of those on hand will be hoping they are not watching the final running of the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie Racetrack, the evidence would suggest otherwise.

Ontario’s governing Liberal Party, through its Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, launched its first salvo against horse racing this winter when it announced that the racetrack slots program would be discontinued as of March 31, 2013.

More than a dozen stakes races at Santa Anita’s fall meeting have had their names changed, Santa Anita announced on Friday, a reflection of the fact that longtime lessee Oak Tree is out, and the Stronach Group is in.

Races named in honor of respected Oak Tree founders such as Clement Hirsch, Lou Rowan, and Harold Ramser have been changed to, respectively, the John Henry Turf Championship, L.A. Woman Stakes, and Autumn Miss Stakes.

The new names are a curious mix, some acknowledging the history of the sport in Southern California, others seemingly whimsical.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Bret Calhoun hopes Minesave secures more comfortable footing Sunday than she did last time when she runs in the $75,000 Serena’s Song Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

The prep for the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on Aug. 11 attracted seven for the one-mile and 70-yard race.

This will be Minesave’s third straight start at Monmouth Park.

Portland Meadows, Oregon’s flagship track for more than six decades, will venture into the great unknown Sunday when it launches its first summer race meeting. The action begins at 1 p.m. Pacific, with two Quarter Horse races kicking off a nine-race card. Majestic Afleet, a recent winner at Golden Gate, headlines the feature race for Thoroughbreds, the $10,000 Inaugural Handicap at six furlongs.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Sunday’s $26,000 allowance feature at Louisiana Downs brings together some of the best of the local 3-year-old crop looking at a possible start in next month’s Prelude Stakes, which in turn leads up to the meeting’s marquee event, the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby on Sept. 8. Sunday’s mile and 70-yard headliner on the main track carries no conditions and drew a field of seven 3-year-olds, with all but one having previous stakes experience.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Christophe Clement looks to put an exclamation point on a fabulous Belmont spring/summer meeting for his stable when he sends out a trio of runners on Sunday’s closing-day card, including the exciting 3-year-old filly prospect Antonia Autumn.

Clement entered the final three days of racing here with 21 wins from 84 starters, putting him second in the trainer standings behind only Richard Dutrow Jr. (27 for 104).

Clement has a chance to surpass his personal-best Belmont spring/summer meet record for wins, 23, set in 2009.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Overvalued has been installed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the $50,000 Strawberry Morn Handicap at Hastings on Sunday, but any of the six fillies and mares entered in the 1 1/16-mile feature could win the race.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Thank heaven for the Illinois-breds. Without them, higher-level open allowance races at Arlington would have little chance of being carded.

Take Sunday’s nine-race program, which includes a pair of nice allowance races, a second-level Polytrack route for males and a third-level turf route for females. Illinois-breds, whose statebred-restricted allowance wins generally don’t count against their eligibility for open allowance races, make up three-eighths of the second-level allowance race and half of the 12-horse field entered in the third-level race.