CHICAGO – The fall-winter meet at Hawthorne Race Course may be in trouble before it even begins. Open stakes purses at Hawthorne’s upcoming meet could be slashed by $700,000, with the Hawthorne Gold Cup purse possibly halved from $500,000 to $250,000. The Hawthorne racing week might be reduced from five days to four, with an overnight purse cut also being considered.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - By skipping next weekend’s Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park for Friday’s Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes at Saratoga, trainer Todd Pletcher thought he was running Interactif in an easier spot.
While Interactif did get to the winner’s circle, it was far from easy.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Don’t tell Tony Dutrow that next Saturday’s Grade 1 Alabama is simply a showdown between the West Coast-based Blind Luck and the East Coast-based Devil May Care.

As the trainer of Havre de Grace, who came within a nose of upsetting Blind Luck in the Delaware Oaks, Dutrow feels his filly has a big shot to knock off the big two in the $600,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/4 miles.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Gotta Have Her meets a stronger field at a longer distance Sunday in the Grade 2 John C. Mabee Stakes at Del Mar. However, the challenges that face the consistent turf mare go beyond streaking Wasted Tears and the 1 1/8-mile trip.

“My biggest concern is no Tyler,” trainer Jenine Sahadi said, referring to injured jockey Tyler Baze, who has ridden Gotta Have Her in 11 straight races. The comment was not meant to knock replacement rider Mike Smith, but Gotta Have Her has only one boyfriend.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Aug. 21 is likely to have a large field, and that works against trainer Mark Glatt’s hopes for It Tiz.

The field for the Grade 1 Oaks is limited to 10 starters, determined by graded or group stakes winners, or fillies who have placed in such races. It Tiz won the minor Le Cle Stakes at Hollywood Park last month but has had no success in reaching the first three in graded stakes in her career.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Only 220 yards separate the co-featured sixth and eighth races Sunday at Arlington Park. Both races are restricted to females and are open to second-level allowance runners or $40,000 claimers, with race 6 carded at one mile on Polytrack, race 8 over seven furlongs on Polytrack.

It’s unusual to see two such similar races on a single card, but Arlington apparently did not have a surplus of options for the Sunday program, with just 73 horses entered in nine races.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The inside and the outside posts hold the keys to the $100,000 Incredible Revenge Stakes for fillies and mares, the Sunday feature at Monmouth Park.

Dubai Majesty is down on the rail for the 5 1/2-furlong turf race, a surface switch from dirt after her rallying third in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap at Calder.

West Ocean has post 9, the final slot, in her quest for a fourth straight stakes victory.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

The annual fair at the Pacific National Exhibition is just about here and depending on your outlook the next few weeks will either be an exciting time or a horror show. The fair shares the same site as Hastings and for most horsemen it is the latter, as their usual routine is interrupted and many times the noise coming from the fair is intrusive and can cause horses to spook.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Todd Pletcher has dominated the juvenile maiden races here this summer. Sunday, he hopes to start getting a piece of the stakes action as well.

Position Limit, a 6 3/4-length debut winner at Belmont a month ago, heads a field of 10 juvenile fillies entered in Sunday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mike Keogh and owner/breeder Gustav Schickedanz already have had their downs and ups on the Canadian triple crown trail this season, with Artic Fern being sidelined just before the Queen’s Plate and Mobil Unit coming up big with a second-place finish in the Prince of Wales.

On Sunday, Keogh and Schickedanz will be looking for a happy ending when Silent Wisper takes on the boys in the $500,000 Breeders’, the 1 1/2-mile turf race that is the finale of the series for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.