Michigan horse of the year Valley Loot will be spotting her rivals four to 12 pounds when she seeks to get back to her winning ways in Saturday's $20,000 Moonbeam Handicap at Pinnacle Race Course. The one-mile Moonbeam, restricted to Michigan-bred fillies and mares, drew a field of eight and goes as race 8.
Valley Loot has finished second in all three starts this year, including twice at this meet, the latest in the July 17 Larkspur Handicap. Her last win for owner Felicia Campbell, CEO of Pinnacle, came in last October's Michigan Sire Stakes.

Russell Road, who was so outstanding as a 3-year-old last season that he dominated older horses in the $450,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic, begins his quest to repeat that feat when he faces seven other West Virginia-breds in Saturday night’s $50,000 Frank Gall Memorial Stakes at Charles Town.

The seven-furlong Gall is a local prep for statebreds looking to move on to either the $75,000 Onion Juice at seven furlongs or the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic at 1  1/8 miles on Oct. 16.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Workin for Hops will try to pull off a rare sweep of Arlington’s Mid-America Triple when he starts in the Grade 1 $400,000 Secretariat on Million Day here Saturday.

Workin for Hops won the Arlington Classic in May and the American Derby here in July. Between those two races came a trip to Virginia for the Colonial Turf Cup – and there’s the rub.

That advice refers specifically to Jet Propulsion, the horse to beat in the 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes, assuming he doesn’t give his rider and handlers too much trouble making his way from the main track onto the grass course. Pre-race antics crossing over to the grass wreaked havoc on Jet Propulsion’s performances on a couple of occasions earlier this year.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer compares his filly, Blind Luck, to a former heavyweight champion boxer.

“My filly’s like Joe Frazier, just keeps coming at ’em,” Hollendorfer said.

That trait could prove useful, considering that Blind Luck’s matchup with Devil May Care in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Alabama at Saratoga could be considered a prize fight of sorts for the 3-year-old filly title.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. − Trainer Bob Baffert brought in four more horses earlier this week from his Southern California base, including Mythical Power, who is being pointed to the Grade 1 Woodward here Sept. 4.

Mythical Power, a son of Congaree, won the Texas Mile in April and last year took the Lone Star Derby. Both races were over dirt at Lone Star Park. Most recently, he finished fifth in the San Diego, run over Del Mar’s synthetic surface.

River Downs in Cincinnati, Ohio, has applied for 26 fewer race dates in 2011 than the track is scheduled to race in 2010, setting up a conflict with horsemen who are reluctant to accept any further reductions to the state’s racing calendar.

River applied for 78 dates for 2011, down from 104 this year, a schedule that “would basically cut us to a four-day race week,” said Jack Hanessian, the track’s general manager. Under Ohio statute, River is required to run 119 live race dates each year, unless horsemen agree to a reduced schedule.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Thirty-three seconds.

That is about how long it took Gio Ponti to complete the final three furlongs of the Man o’ War Stakes on July 10, and that is about as fast as the species equus ferus caballus can run.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jacally and Dancing Raven will both compete around two turns for the first time Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Eternal Search Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race that drew six other Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Jacally graduated first-time out in a slow clocking May 7. She then leaped right into Ontario-sired stakes company May 24, finishing fifth in the seven-furlong Lady Angela.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Free Fighter has been zigging when horseplayers are zagging. The Team Block colorbearer won the Grade 3 Stars and Stripes at Arlington Park last September at nearly 11-1 and the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs this spring at 12-1. Meanwhile, he has been the beaten favorite four times in his last 11 starts.