ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It's always news when a Queen's Plate runner-up makes his first start the following season, as Mr. Foricos Two U will Friday in a seven-furlong allowance at Woodbine.
Beaten a neck by Eye of the Leopard in the 2009 Queen's Plate, Mr. Foricos Two U will be coming off a layoff of more than seven months.
RUIDOSO, N.M. - Runnning Brook Gal, the champion 2-year-old Quarter Horse of 2009, will make her first start of the year Friday at Ruidoso Downs. She goes in the third race, a $25,000 optional claiming race for fillies and mares that will be run over 350 yards. Runnning Brook Gal won the All American Futurity last year at Ruidoso.
The race Friday will be Runnning Brook Gal's first start since Nov. 29, when she won the Grade 1 Southwest Juvenile Championship at Zia Park. She was freshened after that race, and has been working at Ruidoso.
LINCOLN, Neb. - Lincoln Race Course wraps up its first season under the management of Omaha Exposition and Racing this weekend with encouraging numbers. Last year, the track held a 37-day season under the guidance of the Nebraska State Fair Board. A 32-day meet this year will see nearly identical numbers for total ontrack handle, and offtrack wagering on the live product will surpass last year's figure on Friday night.
CINCINNATI - Owner Ziba Graham, trainer Doug Cowans, and jockey Dean Sarvis have won a pair of stakes at River Downs recently, the $50,000 Hoover last Saturday with No Garlic and the $55,000 Cincinnatian two weeks ago with Festive Girl.
No Garlic, a 2-year-old colt, and Festive Girl, a 3-year-old filly, are full siblings bred by Graham. They were each sired by Habayeb and are out of Yellow Springs, a 19-year-old mare who has produced eight foals. Two of her other foals, M and Em and Cait, are stakes placed.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Aaron Gryder is taking the overland route to his next base, Remington Park, after the close of the Lone Star Park meet Sunday. He could spend a little time riding in Southern California and France before he gets settled in at Remington, the Oklahoma City track that won't begin its meet until Aug. 19.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Three of the first four finishers in the $54,404 Chris Loseth Stakes last Sunday at Hastings will likely renew acquaintances in the B.C. Cup Stellar's Jay on Aug. 2.
The connections of Dyna Stroll, who won the 1 1/16-mile race, are the only ones not committed. Instead, they are considering the possibility of heading right into the Grade 3, $300,000 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park on Aug. 21.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - One of the more eagerly anticipated rematches of the Louisiana Downs season remains on course for the $50,000 Laurel Lane Stakes later this month.
Do Dat Blues and Take Me Home Too, first and second here in a 2-year-old maiden race in June, and each an impressive winner since, are set to meet again in the six-furlong Laurel Lane for Louisiana-bred fillies July 31.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $200,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on Saturday lost another stakes-winning contender Wednesday when trainer Bob Baffert opted to pass the race with Concord Point, winner of the Grade 3 Iowa Derby last month.
Earlier in the week, trainer Ron Ellis said that Golden Itiz, winner of the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 19, would skip the race.