Jasper's Valentine will try to defend her title in the $50,000 Wild Rose Handicap at Northlands Park on Sunday. The six-furlong sprint drew a small but competitive field of five fillies and mares.
Jasper's Valentine, trained by Jim Meyaard, should be full of confidence following her 10-length front-running win over Jules J in a $40,000 optional race June 2. Jasper's Valentine has led from start to finish in all five of her wins, but could be vulnerable with plenty of other speed in the field.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Mac Robertson and Gary Scherer train five of the six entrants in Sunday's $50,000 Princess Elaine at Canterbury Park. The Princess Elaine, a 1 1/16-mile stakes for Minnesota-bred fillies and mares, tops a card that also includes the $35,000 Shot of Gold Stakes, a sprint for 3-year-olds and up.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Earl Barnett plans to have his Ontario-sired stakes mares out in full force this weekend.
On Saturday, Barnett had Anne's Purse entered in the $100,000 Zadracarta, an open overnight stakes for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.
On Sunday, You Will Love Me will be one of five fillies and mares in the Hill 'n' Dale, an open stakes that also is worth $100,000.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In all but the most elite barns filled with stakes runners, a horse of the quality of Strike Impact, a 13-time winner with earnings of more than $339,000, might be referred to as "the big horse."
Longtime Churchill Downs trainer Pat Dupuy calls him something else.
"He's the only horse," he quipped.
But if a trainer is going to have a one-horse stable, Strike Impact is the type to have. A $25,000 claim last summer by owner Chet Miller, the horse has risen under Dupuy to become a top-level optional claiming performer.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Tony Alderson has been taking a keen interest in a couple of guys working around his barn on the Fort Erie backstretch.
The younger of the two is Sandspit, an 11-year-old gelding. The other is Alderson's son, Jeffrey, a fast-maturing 17-year-old.
Sandspit, winner of the Puss N Boots Cup here the last two years, is scheduled to return to the races on Sunday in an about seven-furlong turf allowance and would be making his first start since last Oct. 16.
Jockey Tim Doocy said Friday that the injuries he sustained in a morning training accident last winter at Oaklawn will probably force his retirement, but he wants to see how he continues to progress in his physical therapy before making a final call on his career. Doocy, 54, has made great strides in his rehabilitation since fracturing his left kneecap, ankle, and tibia on Dec. 7.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Lowther Street heads a strong field of older horses in Sunday's featured race at Hastings. Patrons will have to get here early to watch the races, which begin at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
The feature is worth getting up for. Among the 10 horses entered in the 1 1/16-mile $50,000 optional claimer are Krazy Koffee and Trick of the North. Krazy Koffee was the local horse of the year in 2008, and Trick of the North won six races last year, including the Grade 3 Premiers.
Penn National Gaming Inc. has sued its partner in a harness track and several off-track betting parlors in New Jersey, claiming that board members representing the partner have blocked efforts to build an off-track betting parlor in the southern part of the state.
After initially saying Acorn winner Champagne d'Oro would run next in the Mother Goose on June 26, trainer Eric Guillot has altered course and decided to shorten up the filly to six furlongs and target the Grade 1 Prioress at Belmont on July 4.
Guillot said his major target for the summer with Champagne d'Oro is the Grade 1 Test, a seven-furlong race at Saratoga on Aug. 7. Guillot felt the Prioress was a better progression to the Test than the Mother Goose, which is run at 1 1/16 miles around one turn.