INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Nearing the end of her career, Ultra Blend is peaking this year, with 3 wins in 4 starts.

She won two stakes for California-breds earlier this year and was promoted from second to first in the Grade 2 Milady Handicap at Hollywood Park on May 21 after being hampered in the stretch.

Ultra Blend can win her first graded stakes outright in Saturday’s $200,000 A Gleam Handicap at Hollywood Park, a race with major ramifications for the fall. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs in November.

Suffolk Downs cards the first stakes this year for Massachusetts-breds on Saturday with the $50,000 Rise Jim, and typical of the statebred program, the competitors run the gamut in age from as young as 3 to the11-year-old returning champion Mr. Meso.

A winner of 24 of 64 starts for a handful of different connections, Mr. Meso is out to improve on a fifth-place effort in his 2011 debut. He was 3 for 3 last year, including two statebred stakes.

Four graded stakes winners, led by recent Brooklyn Handicap hero Birdrun, will challenge defending champion A.U. Miner in Saturday’s $200,000 Greenwood Cup at Parx Racing.

The 10 older horses in the 1 1/2-mile Greenwood Cup will be looking to secure an automatic berth in this fall’s Breeders’ Cup Marathon at Churchill Downs. The Greenwood Cup, along with Turf Monster later this season, are the two Parx races on the calendar that are part of the Breeders’ Cup’s Win and You’re In program.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Banner Bill hasn’t made a wrong move yet, winning his 4 1/2-maiden debut and doubling up in the five-furlong Victoria Stakes.

On Saturday, Banner Bill will be looking to extend his streak in the Colin, a six-furlong stakes race for 2-year-olds which attracted a field of six.

“He’s working fantastic; better than ever,” said Ralph Biamonte, who trains the Illinois- homebred Banner Bill for owners Ron Magers and Bob Marcocchio.

AUBURN, Wash. – Zenovit, the champion 3-year-old filly at Emerald Downs in 2010, will try to get back on the winning beam Saturday in the $50,000 Boeing Handicap. The seventh race on an eight-race card, the one-mile Boeing attracted a strong field of nine fillies and mares. First post is 2 p.m. Pacific.

If Preachintothedevil is thwarted in his bid to sweep the Big Apple Triple for New York-bred 3-year-olds, which carries a $100,000 bonus, trainer Gary Contessa may have only himself to blame.

Contessa trains Preachintothedevil, the decisive winner of the seven-furlong Mike Lee on June 26 at Belmont Park. The series continues with Saturday’s $150,000 New York Derby at Finger Lakes and concludes with the $100,000 Albany Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

Robo Willie should appreciate the move back to a sprint when he runs in a $17,500 claiming race that will serve as Saturday’s feature at Northland Park. The six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds and up drew seven horses and the classy Robo Willie figures to make his presence known right from the start.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The $50,000 Strawberry Morn for fillies and mares at Hastings Saturday features a classic confrontation between speed, Classic Alley Kat, and a deep closer, Wando Woman. The 1 1/16-mile race drew eight horses and goes as race 4 on the eight-race card that begins at 3:20 p.m. Pacific.

Two of the runners in Saturday’s $75,000 California State Fair Sprint Handicap come into the race off a victory in a sprint stakes, and that might give them an edge in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares on the dirt track at Sacramento.

The 3-year-old Special Holiday won the Pink Ribbon for 3-year-old fillies at Stockton on June 18. Summers Peace, a 5-year-old mare, had to travel to Washington where she won the June 12 Washington Legislators at Emerald Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Stormy Lord ($5) held off Officeinthevalley and Hollinger in the final furlong to take the $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes on Wednesday night at Woodbine.

With Jim McAleney aboard, Stormy Lord stalked the dueling leaders Top Prospect and Hotep through the turn in the seven-furlong turf sprint. He hit the front early in the stretch, and had to work hard to get the job done, scoring by a length over Officeinthevalley. Hollinger finished third in a field reduced to five with the scratches of Cross Every Bridge and Sand Cove.