VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The field for the Grade 3, $125,000 B.C. Breeders' Cup Oaks on Sept. 20 is dwindling with the defections of two of the top 3-year-old fillies at Hastings. As it stands now, Lecturing Lynn, who won the Hong Kong Jockey Club on Aug. 30, appears a standout among the local horses shooting for the Oaks.
Dancing Allstar and Remarkable Miss have both been turned out for the year.
Ruffaroundtheedges makes herself at home no matter where she roams. Her five wins have come at five different racetracks, with her latest conquest being Retama Park near San Antonio.
Ruffaroundtheedges equaled her career-best Beyer Figure, an 84, last Saturday night at Retama, when she closed strongly to take the $50,000 Lakeway Stakes. She came rolling for a 2 1/4-length score, covering the six furlongs in 1:10.76. The Lakeway, for 3-year-old fillies, was her first stakes win. Her other wins have come at Delta Downs, Sam Houston Race Park, Lone Star Park, and Evangeline Downs.
It has been a whirlwind few weeks for jockey Azael De Leon.
It began when De Leon, 22, won the $100,000 Bassinet at River Downs on Aug. 30 aboard the 2-year-old filly Afternoon Stroll.
On Labor Day at Hoosier Park, De Leon won three races in one day for the first time in his career.
Going into Wednesday's card, De Leon had won with 9 of 40 mounts, which placed him fourth in the rider standings, only two behind the leader, Orlando Mojica.
In 2005, De Leon came to the United States from his native Panama, where he attended jockey school.
Qualifying trials for the $150,000 Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association Sales Futurity have been rescheduled for Saturday at Evangeline Downs.
First post time for the 11 heats will be 4:20 p.m. Central. The final will also be pushed back a week and will now be run on Sept. 28.
Originally slated for Aug. 31, the trials were one of two Evangeline programs that were lost when Hurricane Gustav roared ashore on Labor Day. The storm caused some minor damage to the backside and the slots casino, but otherwise the track escaped relatively unscathed.
Seacrettina, winning the Silver Spur Stakes at Lone Star Park in July, could stay at Remington for the Gaylord Memorial or stretch out to two turns at Keeneland.P
Seacrettina, who owns the year's second highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 2-year-old filly, could make her next start at her home base of Remington Park or ship and run at Keeneland.
Trainer Joe Petalino on Wednesday was looking over his options for Seacrettina, who put up a Beyer of 95 in July when she won the $75,000 Silver Spur Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It was a diverse group of 2-year-olds entered Wednesday for the Arlington-Washington Futurity here on Saturday - but with 14 names in the entry box, how could that not have been the case?
Short fields? Declining foal crops? Forget all that, at least for this one race. Barring scratches, Arlington's starting gate will be loaded full of juveniles in the Futurity, a Grade 3 with a $200,000 purse to be contested at a one-turn Polytrack mile.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Southern Exchange, who finished a creditable fourth in last Wednesday's Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, checked back into Woodbine late Tuesday evening.
On Wednesday morning, Southern Exchange was taking his morning exercise on the main track here, jogging a mile and then galloping a mile under exercise rider Dolan Armstrong.
"He handled everything great - the shipping, the new environment," said trainer Greg DeGannes. "We'll just chalk it up to a great dry run for the Breeders' Cup."
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Marquis Downs concluded its 29-day meeting here last Saturday with a gain of about 2 percent in average daily ontrack handle compared to last year. Total ontrack handle came to $868,657, for a daily average of $29,954.
Marquis Downs does not export its signal, and no attendance figures are kept.
Trainer Russell Gardipy and jockey Tim Moccasin repeated as the leading trainer and jockey at the meeting.
MIAMI - Just about everybody is joining the Annabill fan club this summer at Calder. Everybody, that is, except maybe Cat Can Do and her trainer, Ralph Ziadie.
Annabill has dominated the filly and mare handicap division during the current session, having posted four consecutive victories, including a pair of stakes tallies. All four of her wins have come at the expense of Cat Can Do, who has finished second twice and third twice in her four meetings with the division leader.