FORT ERIE, Ontario – Jockey Juan Crawford came east from Manitoba last fall for a brief spell, found that Fort Erie provided an excellent opportunity for him, and decided to move his tack here this meet.

Crawford spent the previous two years riding mainly at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg while also spending some time at tracks in Western Canada.

Crawford’s timing looks suspect since last Tuesday the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium, which manages this border oval, announced the track’s closure as of Dec. 31, 2012.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Consolidator Joe is in with a fighting chance to win his second straight race of the Woodbine meeting Sunday when he races for a $60,000 price in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint also open to second-level allowance horses.

But Consolidator Joe will be a guaranteed winner one week later, as he has been named the Toronto Thoroughbred Racing Club’s “claimer of the year” for 2011 at the group’s annual awards day here next Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If variety is the spice of racing, then the Sunday feature at Churchill Downs fits the bill. A turf-marathon specialist, a 4-year-old filly, and a couple of aspiring 3-year-olds will meet up with an otherwise standard group of older horses in the second of three allowances on a solid 10-race card.

Forget about the proverbial other shoe. For the beleaguered sport of horse racing, under attack from a variety of quarters, and particularly for the embattled New York Racing Association, the scratch on Friday of I’ll Have Another from the Belmont was the twelfth or thirteenth shoe to drop.

Beautiful Fire won her debut in a 300-yard maiden race at Los Alamitos on May 12 about as well as can be expected for a 2-year-old Quarter Horse filly, by 1 1/4 lengths in the fast time of 15.31 seconds.

The win was a good start to her career, trainer Christopher O’Dell said, but left him anxious to see if she can prove more. “I’ve been around enough to not get too excited,” he said. “She hasn’t proven herself yet.”

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Prospective makes his first start since a troubled run in the Kentucky Derby on Sunday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Victoria Park Stakes.

Barring a scratch, Prospective will face four rivals in the nine-furlong test for 3-year-olds. He was one of the leading 2-year-olds on the grounds last year, when he took the Grade 3 Grey Stakes before finishing up the track in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill.

ELMONT, N.Y. – As they say on Broadway, the show, such as it is, must go on.

The scratch on Friday of I’ll Have Another from Saturday's 144th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, and his retirement from racing, has taken the Belmont from a potential Triple Crown bid to an anticlimax, an unsatisfying coda to what had been a compelling and controversial Triple Crown series.

There is still a field of 11, still well-known horses such as Dullahan and Union Rags, but the Triple Crown bid was what made this race of such great interest, and now that major element is gone.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Someday there may be another Triple Crown winner, but it won’t be I’ll Have Another.

In news that was as shocking in its timing as for its substance, I’ll Have Another was not only scratched from Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, but was retired from racing with an injury to the tendon in his left foreleg, his connections announced Friday.

I’ll Have Another joins Burgoo King (1932) and Bold Venture (1936) as the only horses to have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, but not compete in the Belmont.

The filly machine known as Class Included looks to continue her superb form as the likely heavy favorite in Sunday’s $50,000 Washington State Legislators Handicap at Emerald Downs. The 6 1/2-furlong event for fillies and mares drew a field of eight, and while Class Included is the one to beat again, she must deal with some of the usual suspects.

Countdown to the Crown today completes a seventh season online as one of the most comprehensive handicapper’s scouting reports of the 3-year-old scene. Posted each Friday at DRF.com from Jan. 6 through the Belmont Stakes, Countdown keeps you apprised of the rising stars of the 3-year-old class from the maiden ranks through the Grade 1 stakes. You can access daily updates and interactive features at Countdowntothecrown.com as well.

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