Preparations continue at Canterbury Park for Claiming Crown Day, the track's biggest event. More than 200 horses were nominated to the seven-race, $600,000 series, which will be contested next Saturday as part of a card that will also feature the running of the $100,000 Lady Canterbury Breeders' Cup. Russell Baze is expected to be one of the riders who will visit Shakopee for the event.

Four stakes races and the showcase Michigan Sire Stakes will have smaller purses, but Pinnacle Race Course is now set to run through Oct. 19, general manager Mike Mackey said Tuesday.

The former racing commissioner Christine White issued an executive order slashing race dates at Pinnacle and other state tracks, including harness racing and a mixed meet at Mt. Pleasant Meadows, due to the state's budget crisis.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Not Bourbon and Sand Cove, a pair of Ontario-sired 4-year-old colts who combined to win seven stakes for trainer Roger Attfield last year, both are scheduled to make their first start of the season this weekend.

Sand Cove and Not Bourbon were nominated to both Saturday's $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club, a seven-furlong turf race for Ontario foals, and Sunday's $150,000 Bold Venture, an open race at 6 1/2 furlongs on the main track.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Trainer Bob Young's statistics with 2-year-olds speak for themselves - an almost 30 percent win clip with first-time starters and a success rate of 23 percent with all his juvenile starters. Saturday, Young will try and introduce some black type to the equation as he plans to send out two starters in both the Minstrel and Princess stakes at Louisiana Downs.

In 1996, when Spencer Childers was recognized by the American Quarter Horse Association as the owner and co-breeder of the year, he had been breeding Quarter Horses for 47 years.

Childers, who died on July 9 at the age of 97, had plenty of success before that season, but 1996 was an outstanding year - one in which his homebred Uncas won the Ed Burke and Governor's Cup futurities and Luva Secret won the Golden State Futurity, all at Los Alamitos.

Hoosier Kingdom was kept just off the early pace before taking over at the half-mile pole and then drawing off through the stretch in ridden-out fashion to win the $70,000 Governor's at Indiana Downs on Tuesday evening by 4 1/4 lengths.

Trained by Ron Herrell, Hoosier Kingdom made it look easy besting his 10 other 3-year-old Indiana-bred rivals, with the outcome never in doubt from the far turn to the finish under jockey Orlando Mojica. Tenmor, under Leandro Goncalves, was a hard-fought second by a neck over Lil Albert E.

Assiniboia Downs canceled its Tuesday evening card due to heavy thunderstorms which created unstable track conditions. Racing was scheduled to resume at Assiniboia Downs on Wednesday evening.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Justin Shepherd shipped into Lone Star Park last Saturday to ride a couple of horses on the Stars of Texas Day program. He ended up winning five races. It was a banner day for Shepherd, whose wins included a sweep of both $125,000 divisions of the Texas Stallion Stakes.

"I came in to ride two and picked up all the others," he said.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For several years, the $300,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park has been overshadowed on the 3-year-old summer schedule by more lucrative races in New York and New Jersey in August.

In the case of Grazen, this year's Swaps Stakes on Saturday is all trainer Mike Mitchell wants.

Trainers Larry Jones and Tim Ritchey, who won the last two runnings of the Delaware Oaks, will send out prominent contenders again in Saturday s 58th edition of the Grade 2 race for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.

Payton d Oro, trained by Jones, and Bon Jovi Girl, trained and partially owned by Ritchey, will meet for the third time this season. They took turns beating each other in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico two months ago and the local prep for the $250,000 Delaware Oaks, the $125,000 Susan s Girl on June 20.