VANCOUVER, British Columbia – St Liams Halo will likely be favored but he is certainly no cinch in the $50,000 Lieutenant Governors’ at Hastings on Friday.

The 1 1/16-mile feature drew a solid field of nine older horses, and contention appears to run deep. The Lieutenant Governors’ shares the spotlight with the $50,000 Chris Loseth that drew 10 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles. First post for the nine-race Canada Day card is 1:50 p.m. Pacific, with the Governors’ and Loseth slotted as the eighth and ninth race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rusty Arnold will be among the masses Friday night at Churchill Downs, but you probably won’t be able to pick him out of the crowd. Arnold will be wearing a white shirt, which is apropos for the evening: Churchill is calling for a “White Out” theme, with everyone attired in white.

Commanding Ace will be a short-priced favorite when he runs in a $30,000 claiming race that will serve as the feature race on Canada Day at Northlands Park Friday. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up drew five horses and goes as the fifth race. Post time for the nine-race holiday card is 1 p.m. Mountain.

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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s leading trainer, Mark Casse, will saddle James Street and So Elite in Friday’s $200,000 Dominion Day Stakes, the competitive feature on the nine-race Canada Day holiday card, which begins at 2 p.m.

Golden Stripe, winner of last year’s running of the Canada Day at Assiniboia Downs, will be solidly backed to repeat when she faces seven rivals in Friday’s renewal of the $30,000 stakes for fillies and mares.

The one-mile Canada Day will go as the seventh race on a nine-race card that begins at 1:15 p.m. Central.

Golden Stripe, a Manitoba-bred 5-year-old who races for owner/breeder Phil Kives and is trained by Shelley Brown, had finished a close second in last year’s six-furlong La Verendrye before capturing the Canada Day by 1 3/4 lengths.

Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans will host 60 stakes worth $7.5 million during its 2011-2012 meeting, a schedule highlighted by the $1 million Louisiana Derby on April 1, the season’s closing day. The Louisiana Derby has been moved from Saturday to Sunday to fit with college basketball’s Final Four, which will be held at the New Orleans Superdome in 2012. The tournament’s semifinal games are Saturday, the championship game Monday.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Wasted Tears, who is the top-ranked turf mare in North America, is scheduled to breeze Thursday at her Lone Star Park base and then head out the next day to Chicago. She is being pointed to the Grade 3, $150,000 Modesty at Arlington on July 9.

“We want to be there a week before the race,” said Bart Evans, who bred, owns, and trains Wasted Tears. “That’s the way I’ve always done it with her. We’ll probably leave here Friday and be there Saturday. I’ll take my time with her hauling her up there. We’ll split the trip up, stop over one night.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Acclamation, the top turf horse at the current Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting with two graded stakes wins, will shift surfaces and run on the synthetic main track in the $500,000 Hollywood Gold Cup on July 9.

On Tuesday, Acclamation worked seven furlongs in 1:25.20 under jockey Joe Talamo on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track synthetic surface, handling the surface without difficulty, co-owner Bud Johnston said.

With a July 1 shutdown of Minnesota state government looming due to an ongoing legislative budget battle, Canterbury Park has moved two Quarter Horse stakes, the Northlands Futurity, originally scheduled for Saturday, and the Canterbury Quarter Horse Derby, which was to be run Monday, to Thursday evening’s card.

The Minnesota Racing Commission, the regulatory body that oversees gaming at Canterbury, would not be able to operate if state government shuts down, meaning racing at Canterbury would have to be called off.

ELMONT, N.Y. – A couple of one-mile races for New York-bred fillies and mares – one on dirt and one scheduled for turf – share top billing Thursday.

In race 5, a $45,000 optional claimer scheduled for the Widener course, Who Is Lady will be favored over six others, after a luckless trip in her first start at the meet.

“There was a loose horse, and she was kind of intimidated at the quarter pole and again at the eighth pole,” explained trainer Mike Miceli.

Despite the trouble, Who Is Lady earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 84.