Churchill Downs canceled its Thursday racing card and simulcasting after its backstretch and grounds suffered significant damage from a strong storm that passed through Louisville, Ky., at 8 p.m. Wednesday. Tornado warnings were in effect in the Louisville area at the time.

In a statement early Thursday morning, the track reported that there had been damage to nine barns and a number of other structures in the stable area, including living accommodations for some backstretch workers. The track reported no injuries to the 1,400 horses on the grounds or to any backstretch workers.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Taptam, who is the Texas-bred horse of the year for 2010, might take on males next month in the $75,000 Assault at Lone Star. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas is one of four restricted stakes on the annual Stars of Texas Day card July 9.

“There’s a good chance she’ll be coming back to Texas for the Assault,” said Bret Calhoun, who trains Taptam for Wayne Sanders and Larry Hirsch.

Bears Home Run is worth a look at what should be a decent price when he runs in a $22,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at Northlands Park on Friday. The one-mile feature drew seven horses, and the main reason for taking a shot with Bears Home Run is the distance.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Gold N Glamore has established herself as one of the top 3-year-old fillies at Lone Star Park with a pair of sharp allowance wins over older rivals, and now she could be headed to New York. Trainer Francisco Bravo said Wednesday that Gold N Glamore is under consideration for the Grade 2, $150,000 Lake George at Saratoga on July 27.

“We’re looking at it pretty seriously,” he said. “We’re looking at our options. We may end up there.”

Trainer Cindy Krasner is hoping it is Wando Woman’s time to shine when she runs in the $50,000 Vancouver Sun for fillies and mares at Hastings on Saturday. Wando Woman was a late bloomer for Krasner as a 3-year-old last year, but once she figured it out, she became one of the top sophomore fillies in Western Canada.

By the end of January, Snitcher was an exhausted Quarter Horse.

He had two minor stakes wins to show for his 2010 campaign at Los Alamitos, but had failed to win a major race. After a dull sixth in a trial for the Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Jan. 29, trainer Adan Farias shipped the gelding to a local farm.

ALTOONA, Iowa – With Friday evening’s emphasis on sprinters, the Iowa Festival of Racing at Prairie Meadows kicks off with a pair of six-furlong stakes, the $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap and the $100,000 Saylorville.

The card also includes the $100,000 Iowa Distaff at 1 1/16 miles. The festival will conclude with three more stakes Saturday evening, topped by the Grade 3, $300,000 Cornhusker Handicap.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – While Sunday’s Queen’s Plate will be getting almost all of the headlines the most interesting stakes race run here this weekend well may be Saturday’s King Edward.

The field of 11 for the King Edward, a one-mile turf race that offers Grade 2 status and a purse of $250,000, features a number of proven Grade 1 performers, including Fifty Proof, Grand Adventure, Society’s Chairman, and Workin for Hops.

And then there are the up-and-comers, a group that includes the intriguing pair of Artic Fern and Court of the Realm

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The long-awaited return of 2009 Grade 1 Hopeful winner Dublin, unraced since finishing fifth in last year’s Preakness, has been delayed a little longer.

Entered in Friday night’s $76,600 Kelly’s Landing overnight stakes at Churchill Downs, Dublin will be scratched and pointed to another race yet to be determined, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.

Lukas said he preferred not to run Dublin under the night racing environment at Churchill Downs, which typically has a large, raucous crowd just outside the paddock area.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Larry Jones knows eventually his 3-year-old filly Joyful Victory will have to face Plum Pretty again. But Jones is not fretting the fact that the rematch will not take place in Saturday’s Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park.