ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington Park racing officials adopted a hit-’em-early approach to Friday’s late-afternoon program. Race 1 is the feature on a nine-race card, and a fairly meaty feature at that.

Seven horses were entered in a six-furlong Polytrack race with multiple high-end allowance conditions and an $80,000 claiming option. The field includes the coupled entry of Flavor and Tend from the barn of trainer Joe Woodard; Flavor was cross-entered in a Friday race at Hoosier Park.

Golden Stripe, who scored by 18 1/4 lengths in last year’s running of the Distaff at Assiniboia Downs, will be heavily favored to repeat on Friday night.

The $50,0000 Distaff, a one-mile race for Manitoba-bred fillies and mares, is the feature on a card which also includes the $40,000 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Sales, a six-furlong race for 2-year-olds who went through the ring at the local auction.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The promising Maritimer will travel a mile and move over to the grass in Friday’s intriguing Woodbine feature for 2-year-olds, the $89,400 allowance prep for the Grade 3 Summer Stakes on Sept. 17.

Maritimer came wide from mid-pack to land his July 10 debut in a six-furlong maiden special, from which the runner-up exited to graduate impressively. He reappeared three weeks later in the six-furlong Vandal Stakes, a race that came down to him and his stablemate, Buongiorno Johnny, who prevailed by a head with a Beyer Speed Figure of 72.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Castinette Dancer hasn’t won a race longer than 6 1/2 furlongs, but she still figures to be a solid favorite in the 1 1/16-mile Hong Kong Jockey Club at Hastings on Friday. The $50,000 stakes for 3-year-old fillies attracted seven horses and goes as race 7 on the eight-race card that begins at 3:20 p.m. Pacific.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The last two Preakness winners to have run in the Travers won the race. Three of the last four Belmont Stakes winners that competed in the Travers also were victorious.

The field for Saturday’s 142nd Travers at Saratoga includes Preakness winner Shackleford and Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice. But New York Racing Association linemaker Eric Donovan believes there are at least two other horses who the betting public will find more appealing.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Sunday will be a day out for the boys.

Blind Luck, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, will skip the Pacific Classic in favor of the Grade 1 Lady’s Secret Stakes at the Santa Anita autumn meeting on Oct. 1, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said. Blind Luck had been considered for the Pacific Classic in recent weeks.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In 2009, just his second year as a head trainer, Tim Ice seemed ascendant. He had Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird in his barn, won some other races in New York, and generally appeared to be on the road to someplace good. But early in 2010, with Ice in a slow patch at Oaklawn Park, owners Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman took Summer Bird and 24 other horses away from Ice, who was left training a string of six and wound up winning just 17 races during 2010. But Ice has rebounded.

DEL MAR, Calif - In addition to having Setsuko lined up for Sunday's Pacific Classic, trainer Richard Mandella will be involved in two other important stakes this weekend at Del Mar. He sends out turf specialist Champ Pegasus in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Mile on Saturday, and has Crown of Thorns in the Grade 1, $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at seven furlongs on Sunday’s Pacific Classic undercard.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Arlington Park is raising overnight purses for the second time in less than two weeks, tacking another $10,000 per day onto its daily distribution, the track announced on Tuesday.

The purse hike, which will take effect with Thursday’s races, comes because of better-than-expected business on Arlington Million Day, Aug. 13. Arlington’s overall handle on the day decreased slightly from 2010, but the track had budgeted for a steeper decline.

AUBURN, Wash. – It’s been an unusual year for Craig Dollase. A highly regarded trainer in Southern California, he began the year in an 0-for-30 funk at Santa Anita, and while things have picked up lately, Dollase had saddled just seven winners in seven-plus months heading into the Grade 3 Longacres Mile last Sunday at Emerald Downs.