VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Arraignment should be a short price when he runs in $75,000 optional claiming race for 3-year-olds at Hastings Saturday. All six horses entered are eligible for the allowance conditions in the 1 1/16-mile feature, which is restricted to horses that haven’t won $30,000 in 2011. It goes as race 7 on the eight-race card, which begins at 1:50 p.m.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Weekend Romance made quite an impression during the spring, when she won both of her starts convincingly. She seems poised to notch her first stakes win Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Passing Mood, a seven-furlong turf sprint for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Weekend Romance used her speed to land her debut at 2 last year. She went on to finish a fading third behind Inglorious in the Fanfreluche Stakes, before capping her season with a nose loss in allowance company.

OPELOUSAS, La. – Defending Matron Stakes champ Category Seven appears to have her work cut out for her as she tries for an encore in this year’s edition Saturday night at Evangeline Downs. A 6-year-old multiple stakes winner of over $530,000, Category Seven will square off against a deep and diverse group of nine fillies and mares in the one-mile headliner on the grass, which is worth $50,000.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine has cancelled Thursday’s eight-race card due to extreme heat. The temperature in the Toronto area is expected to reach 38 degrees Celcius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Thursday afternoon.

“In the best interest of the horses, and having discussed it with the HBPA and the veterinarians, it’s the right decision to cancel Thursday’s card,” said Steve Koch, Woodbine Entertainment Group’s vice-president of thoroughbred racing.

Live racing is expected to resume on Friday afternoon.
 

DEL MAR, Calif.- Opening-day attendance rose for the seventh consecutive year at Del Mar on Wednesday, with an all-time record crowd of 46,588 packing seemingly every corner of the northern San Diego County racetrack.

The ontrack attendance increased 2.8 percent from the 45,309 who attended the 2010 opening day. Those two days and the 2009 opening day crowd of 44,907 are the three highest ontrack audiences in track history.

“Every year we wonder if we can beat last year,” said track president Joe Harper.

Finger Lakes Casino and Racetrack has canceled its Thursday card because of the expected extreme heat. Forecasts call for a heat index of nearly 110 degrees for the area.

The casino will be open and simulcasting will be conducted.

Live racing will resume on Friday with a 12:35 p.m. post time.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Opening day at Del Mar just keeps getting bigger. A single-day track record crowd of 46,588 stuffed itself into the track on Wednesday, eclipsing last year's opening day crowd of 45,309, which had stood as the track's best attendance day ever.

That marked the seventh straight year that the attendance topped 40,000 on opening day.

Handle also was up. Overall handle was $13,234,590, an increase of 6.2 percent from last year. Ontrack handle was $4,174,139, an increase of more than 9 percent from last year's opener.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hollywood Hit sizzled 6 1/2 furlongs in near track-record time Wednesday night at Woodbine to win the 56th running of the

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DEL MAR, Calif. - After flirting with the Triple Crown, Mr. Commons came back to his first love on Wednesday, scoring an impressive victory on turf in the $112,100 Oceanside Stakes, the opening-day feature at Del Mar.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela first came to Del Mar as a fresh-faced, 16-year-old apprentice, and though both he and Del Mar have matured in the three decades since, both retained their youthful enthusiasm on opening day on Wednesday.

"It's awesome. There's nothing like this," Valenzuela said, surveying a paddock that was already packed a half-hour before the first race. "It's like Christmas all over again. This is such a great day. You feed off the energy."