Claresmiezie lost some luster when she lost for the first time in Western Canada in the $50,000 Ross McLeod at Hastings May 19. Nonetheless, she figures to be a heavy favorite when she returns to Northlands Park in the six-furlong Chariot Chaser Handicap Sunday. The $50,000 feature for 3-year-old fillies drew five horses and it will be interesting to see how Claresmiezie bounces back from her defeat.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There are no real standouts in the older filly and mare division at Hastings this year and a case could be made for any of the seven horses entered in the $50,000 Vancouver Sun at Hastings Sunday. The 1 1/16-mile feature is the first middle-distance stakes race for the division at the meet and the added distance should help Orchid’s Silver, who won the Grade 3 Ballerina in her final start of 2011.

Schillerthekiller, invading from Canterbury Park, will be tough to beat in Sunday’s Free Press Stakes at Assiniboia Downs if he can duplicate his latest effort.

The six-furlong Free Press, the first stakes race of the meeting for 3-year-olds and upward, has attracted a field of seven and offers a purse of $30,000. Post time for the first of nine races on the Father’s Day card is 1:15 p.m. Central and the Free Press goes as race 8.

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission has ordered Indiana Downs in Shelbyville, Ind., to suspend its meet until the commission can inspect the racing surface and verify that it is safe. The commission's order is the result of a request by the Indiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

Races at Indiana Downs have been canceled for Friday and Saturday. The soonest the track could reopen is Monday, June 18.

Golden Gate Fields winds up its winter-spring meeting Sunday with a $75,000-guaranteed all-turf pick four.

The pick four, conducted on races 7-10, begins with three 1 1/16-mile turf races and concludes with a five-furlong sprint on the turf. Eight runners are entered in the seventh race, 10 in the eighth and nine in both the ninth and 10th.

Seven of Sunday’s 10 races will be contested on the turf.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Zazu, the winner of three graded stakes, will be withdrawn from Saturday's $250,000 Vanity Handicap at Betfair Hollywood Park because she is "off behind," trainer John Sadler said on Thursday afternoon.

"She's out," Sadler said. "We did a preliminary diagnosis with X-rays, which were negative. We'll do a nuclear scan on Tuesday."

A nuclear scan is a more elaborate test, which can detect the presence of more minute injuries than a conventional X-ray.

The NBC Sports Group finalized its lineup of five television shows that will originate from Saratoga this summer.

The NBC Sports Network will televise Grade 2, $500,000 Fourstardave on Aug. 11 and the Grade 2 Adirondack and Grade 2 Saratoga Special – both races for 2-year-olds _ on Aug. 12. Those shows will air from 6-7 p.m. Eastern and be preceded by Olympic coverage.

On Aug. 18, NBC Sports Network will broadcast the Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 1 Sword Dancer in a one-hour telecast from 5-6 p.m. Eastern.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Aruna, winner of the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay on May 26, will make a return trip to Belmont Park for the Grade 2, $200,000 New York Handicap on June 30, trainer Graham Motion said.

Motion said that his main summer objective for Aruna is the Beverly D. at Arlington Park on Aug. 18, but he doesn’t want to wait that long to run her back.

“It’s a long wait from the Sheepshead Bay,” Motion said. “It makes sense for her to have another race in between.”

Churchill Downs on Thursday announced a new points system to determine eligibility for the Kentucky Derby starting in 2013, replacing the system of graded stakes earnings that had been in place since 1986.

Danzip has never been beaten against Colorado-breds, and will return to those ranks Saturday for the $30,000 Aspen at Arapahoe Park. He should start as a strong favorite in the six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up which also drew local stakes winners Northern Twist, Wally Van, and E F Five.

Danzip went 3 for 4 when last at Arapahoe in 2010, with two of those wins, the Aspen and Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Derby, coming against statebreds. He also won the Inaugural against open company and was second in the Colorado Derby.