BALTIMORE – Though Ben’s Cat has shown equal prowess on turf and dirt, trainer King Leatherbury firmly believes his 5-year-old Maryland-bred gelding’s best game is as a closing sprinter on the grass.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – St. Liams Halo will try to win his first stakes race when he runs in the $50,000 John Longden 6000 at Hastings on Monday.

With the Grade 3 British Columbia Derby in mind, St. Liams Halo was purchased privately last year by Glen Todd and Patrick Kinsella. He never made it to the race, however, and his win over Heavenly Chorus in a $35,000 optional claimer at Hastings on April 24 was his first start since he won a one-mile maiden special weight on the Arlington Park turf course last June.

One of the main events was affectionately called the “Running of the Urinals,” where inebriated patrons dashed across the top of Porta Potties while other drunken fans pelted them with beer cans. Through 2008, this behavior and other raunchy acts were typical for the infield at Pimlico on the day of the Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Dancingall Theway ran the race of his life to capture the 2010 New Providence Stakes, and he will try to win that six-furlong event again Sunday at Woodbine.

Dancingall Theway came wide from third to beat a good field of Ontario-sired sprinters in last year’s New Providence, earning a big but seemingly inflated Beyer Speed Figure of 102. He missed the board in each of his next three outings before getting the winter off.

Recent history is working against Kindly Fellow in the $339,600 Kindergarten Futurity for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos on Sunday.

Four of the last five winners of the Kindergarten entered the race unbeaten, with wins in a maiden race and a time trial for the Kindergarten, annually the season’s first futurity at Los Alamitos.

Rush Now, who has settled for minor shares of two stakes purses since he was given a confidence boost by dropping into a claiming race for the first time in his career, tries to get over the hump and back into the winner’s circle in Sunday’s $75,000 Spend a Buck Stakes for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Nick Gonzalez stable has endured more than its share of bad luck here this spring, winning with just one of its first 36 starters while watching nine end second and seven third heading into Friday’s program.

But a breakout can’t be long in coming, and the barn could get a big boost on Sunday from Daniel Be Good, who will start in the $125,000 New Providence Stakes.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Vancouver Canucks fever has taken a firm hold on the city, and because of the noon starting time for the Canucks-San Jose Sharks playoff game, post time at Hastings on Sunday has been moved to 3:20 p.m. Pacific.

Trainer Harold Barroby is hoping Mizz Shakin is due for some luck when she runs in a first-level $30,000 optional claiming race that will serve as the feature race. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint for fillies and mares drew six horses and appears to be wide open. It has been scheduled to run at 6:16 p.m.

ELMONT, N.Y. – A forecast of improved weather is good news for a Sunday card that features a pair of overnight stakes scheduled for turf.

Christophe Clement sends out contenders in both $60,000 stakes. Longhunter will be favored in the A Gift for 3-year-olds on the Widener, and Grassy is a solid threat in the Three Coins Up for older horses on the inner turf.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – A rainy three days and a sloppy track greeted Fort Erie patrons last week. In the short sprints, speed was the danger, but closers fared better as the races stretched out.

The first two-furlong dash of the year was run Monday afternoon, and the Robert Johnson-trained Minkredible led from start to finish. Chris Griffith, the meet’s leading rider with nine wins, cleared early as a number of rivals had trouble at the break, losing all chance.