Hardcore Candy looks like the one to beat in a $20,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at Northlands Park Sunday. The six-furlong sprint drew five horses and Hardcore Candy will likely be the one they have to run down.

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Dynamic Holiday hasn’t been favored in any of her three starts during 2011, but bettors may be getting the idea now. Unbeaten in those three races, all stakes, Dynamic Holiday could wind up a narrow favorite over Excited in the Grade 3, $150,000 Virginia Oaks on Saturday at Colonial Downs.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill – The conventional handicapping wisdom holds that horses coming back from long layoffs represent a risky betting proposition.

Throw the conventional wisdom out the window considering layoff horses trained by Steve Margolis.

Of Margolis’s last 26 returnees from a layoff of at least a half-year nine have won, good for a strike rate of 35-percent and a return-on-investment of $3.59. The Margolis-trained Country Day, one of 10 horses entered in the Arlington Sprint on Saturday, hasn’t started since Oct. 28 at Keeneland. That may be a good thing.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky racing officials have concluded that an exacta payoff in the last race at Churchill Downs on July 4 was not affected by any illegal wagers, the executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Lisa Underwood, said on Thursday.

When owners claim horses, they’re hopeful that in a challenging business their new acquisitions can at least make back the price they paid, perhaps a little more.

Native Ruler, a 7-year-old Elusive Quality horse owned by Maggi Moss, has done a lot more than that. A $25,000 claim in December 2007, he has since made more than $567,000 for her in the 3 1/2 years that have followed.

On Saturday, he can add to that total when he starts as the probable favorite against a full field of 12 in the $50,000 Don Bernhardt at 6 1/2 furlongs on the Ellis Park main track.

ALTOONA, Iowa – The first two open stakes of the Prairie Meadows meet for 2-year-olds, the $75,000 Prairie Gold Juvenile and the $75,000 Prairie Gold Lassie, will be held Saturday evening. Both 5  1/2-furlong races will feature talent from local maiden events and a diverse group of shippers.

Ten colts and geldings go to post in the Juvenile. Bret Calhoun’s pair of undefeated Texas-breds, Canigotoo and Lil Cherokee, could vie for favoritism as they are uncoupled in wagering.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Coco Ecolo stepped up her game with a pair of convincing wins since arriving at Monmouth Park.

She will take the next step Saturday, making her stakes debut in the $75,000 Serena’s Song for 3-year-old fillies.

The mile-and-70-yard Serena’s Song, the prep for the Grade 3, $150,000 Monmouth Oaks on Aug. 13, drew seven hopefuls.

Coco Ecolo started her career with a pair of thirds over Aqueduct’s inner track in February and March.

Kentucky Downs, a small racetrack in Franklin, Ky., near the border with Tennessee, will install 200 electronic gambling machines in its grandstand by the opening of its four-day race meet this year on Sept. 10, the track’s president, Corey Johnsen, said on Thursday.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Ramsey County District Court Judge Kathleen Gearin on Thursday denied a motion by Canterbury Park to reconsider her original ruling to keep the Minnesota Racing Commission closed during the ongoing state government shutdown. Without state stewards, veterinarians or other racing commission staff, Canterbury has not been able to race, simulcast, or operate its card room since the shutdown began July 1.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Right One will likely be regarded as the stronger half of trainer Christophe Clement’s uncoupled entry in Saturday’s Grade 3, $100,000 Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park. But stablemate Nordic Truce may have just as good a chance to win the last graded stakes event of this meeting at a better price.