ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Le Cinquieme Essai is 8 years old and hasn't raced in 11 months but still merits top billing in Saturday's supporting feature at Woodbine, the $75,000 Ontario Jockey Club.
"He's ready, and I thought it would be a very good starting point for him," said Paul Nielsen, who trains Le Cinquieme Essai for owner and breeder Bill Scott.
The Ontario Jockey Club, a seven-furlong overnight turf stakes for Ontario-foaled 3-year-olds and up, has drawn an interesting field of 10.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Jeff MacLaren, 31, rode the fifth winner of his career at Fort Erie on Monday - and his first winner since June 20, 2004.
MacLaren won two races that day three years ago, but in the day's last race his mount bolted and he was hurt. An apprentice rider when the injury occurred, he had a record of 4 wins (in a 10-day span), 1 second, and 3 thirds in 27 starts.
"I pulled my shoulder out and had a torn rotator cuff," MacLaren said the other day.
MIAMI - Opportunity knocks just twice for fillies and mares to earn serious money going a distance of ground over the main track during the 2007 Calder meeting.
The first chance comes in Saturday's $90,000 Nancy's Glitter Handicap, highlight of a 13-race card that also includes the $50,000 Noble Robyn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.
The Nancy's Glitter is one of just two stakes for the main track for the filly and mare handicap division during the meet. The other is the $100,000 Shocker T. Handicap on Oct. 13.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Elle Runaway, who finished second behind Ambitious Cat in last year's Dance Smartly, will have to bring her "A" game to the table here Sunday when she takes on the favored Arravale in this year's edition of the 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
But Malcolm Pierce, who trains Elle Runaway for Live Oak Plantation, believes she is coming into the Grade 2, $300,000 Dance Smartly on a high note and isn't about to make a prerace concession speech.
"It's no easy spot," Pierce said. "But she can hold her own with these fillies on her best day."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense blazed through a sensational workout Thursday morning at Churchill Downs when going five furlongs in 57.40 seconds under regular rider Calvin Borel.
With trainer Carl Nafzger away on a fishing vacation, assistant Ian Wilkes oversaw the work, which came over a dry track, but one that has not been playing particularly fast for morning works.
"This was our major work," said Wilkes. "We were looking for a good work. He's a fast horse, and they work fast. This horse is unbelievable, the way he can do things."
DEL MAR, Calif. - They're off and running on Polytrack at Del Mar. And running. And running. They still might be out there.
The "Polytrack era," as track commentator Trevor Denman called it when the gate opened for Wednesday's second race, began with a six-furlong race for California-bred maiden fillies and mares. This is a group that, on conventional dirt, might have run in the 1:10 to 1:11 range. But when the clock finally stopped after the race, the board read 1:13.95. It's a new era all right, for horses and handicappers.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Barb Heads apparently assessed correctly that the 2-year-old filly division at Hastings is a bit stronger than the colts and geldings division right now.
Heads ran fillies in both the Timber Music Stakes for 2-year-old fillies Saturday and in the Ladnesian Stakes open to males on Sunday.
Rosada finished fourth for her in the Timber Music and Remarkable Miss finished second in the Ladnesian.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A filly who took on colts in her last start is running in Saturday's Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park.
No, Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches did not re-enter the picture. Folk, who got dusted by males in the UAE Derby on March 31, is one of four 3-year-old fillies considered definite for Saturday's $300,000 CCA Oaks. The others are Octave, Humble Janet, and Wow Me Free.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The training titles are no longer what matters most to Bobby Frankel. Quality long ago replaced quantity. He has not topped the trainer standings at Del Mar since 1978, when he led the meet for the fifth time in six years. Had he made Del Mar the focal point of his operation every summer in recent years, perhaps Frankel would have won more races, and stakes, and been higher than fourth all-time on both lists.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Dick Small was already on his way to Belmont Park from Maryland on Wednesday morning when he got word the card had been cancelled due to severe thunderstorms that flooded the area.
"Fortunately, I was just getting started," Small said. "I didn't get too far."
His filly Cozy Gain was already at Belmont, waiting in vain for the Drum Tap Stakes slated for that afternoon.
