ELMONT, N.Y. - Having demonstrated the ability to relax successfully in two Grade 1 sprint victories this summer, Indian Blessing will stretch out in distance Saturday when she heads a field of nine entered in the Grade 1, $300,000 Ruffian Handicap at Belmont Park.
The Ruffian, for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles, heads a 10-race card that also includes the Grade 1 Garden City Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mark Frostad is expected to be the only trainer with entrants in each of the three lucrative turf stakes here Sunday, with a total of four runners in the three races, all for for Sam-Son Farm.
But Frostad knows that his runners will have their work cut out for them - Mulmur in the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile, French Beret in the Grade 1, $750,000 Northern Dancer, and Quiet Jungle and Stroke the Tiger in the Grade 2, $300,000 Canadian.
MIAMI - Trainer Marty Wolfson is still trying to get over the disappointment of Golden Spikes's performance in the King's Bishop Stakes at Saratoga on Travers Day, Aug. 23.
Golden Spikes stopped badly after surprisingly getting involved in a suicidal speed, which compromised the chances of all four horses battling for the lead in the Grade 1 King's Bishop. The early tussle set up the last-to-first victory of runaway winner Visionaire.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine made a significant change in its stakes schedule this year when it moved the Northern Dancer onto the same card as the Woodbine Mile.
Whether that shuffle will pay off will be known Sunday after Woodbine concludes a blockbuster program that also includes the Canadian Stakes.
The first two runnings of the $750,000 Northern Dancer, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, had been held in the third week of July.
Canterbury Park concluded its 2008 meeting on Labor Day with declines in attendance and handle, reflecting a trend at racetracks across the country.
The Canterbury Park meeting consisted of 67 racing days, one fewer than last year, and attracted 360,987 fans for an average daily attendance of 5,388, a 1.6 percent decrease from 2007's average of 5,476.
In the absence of the Grade 1 Frank De Francis Memorial Dash and three other marquee stakes, Laurel Parks focus will shift to Maryland-breds and big fields of turf runners for its 65-day fall meet that begins Thursday.
Gone are the De Francis Dash one of just three Grade 1 races in the state and the Laurel Futurity and Selima for 2-year-olds and the Grade 3 Safely Kept for fillies and mares. All were victims of a Maryland Jockey Club cost-cutting move, which canceled all open stakes for the fall meet.
AUBURN, Wash. - What goes around comes around.
It was a little over a year ago when the 2-year-old Gallon appeared to win the $50,000 Premio Esmeralda at Emerald Downs, only to be disqualified and placed second to Margo's Gift for bumping in the stretch. Owner Mike Feuerborn shuffled reluctantly out of the winner's circle, no doubt grumbling under his breath, to make room for the jubilant connections of Margo's Gift.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - If things had gone as originally planned, the 2-year-old filly C. S. Silk would have wound up at Saratoga, racing in the Adirondack Stakes and perhaps this past weekend's Spinaway Stakes. As it happened, C. S. Silk never left her home base at Churchill Downs, but she is coming to Chicago this week for Saturday's Arlington-Washington Lassie, her stakes debut.
Brownie Points, who rallied to defeat male rivals in the $150,000 DeBartolo Memorial Breeders' Cup on Monday, is one of three horses trainer Donnie Von Hemel has under consideration for stakes on the Super Derby Day program at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 20.
The $100,000 River Cities for fillies and mares at 1o1/16 miles on turf is a next-race possibility for Brownie Points. She won the DeBartolo, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up at Remington Park, by a half-length over Tricky Causeway, a horse with a stakes win at Belmont Park to his credit.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Smarmy settled just off the pacesettling odds-on favorite Catlauch into the stretch, went up to engage that one when rider Luis Gonzalez set him down and proved best by three-quarters of a length at the end of the the $75,000 Governor's Buckeye Handicap on Labor day. lt was 12 1/4 lengths back to third-place finisher Go Johnny in the 1 1/4-mile race.
Smarmy is owned by Blazing Meadows Farm LLC and is trained by Tim Hamm. He was timed in 2:06.20 over the fast strip and returned an $8 mutuel.