There is one certainty about the $25,000 Molly Brown Handicap at Arapahoe Park: the six-furlong race for fillies and mares will be won by one of two trainers, Jon Arnett or Kenneth Gleason.
Arnett and Gleason account for all six starters in the field, training three entrants apiece. The horses will all race as separate interests, and it appears Gleason might have the upper hand with Lady Legend, who has won her last four starts in a streak dating back to September.
The Finger Lakes-based mares Hoosick Falls, Coney Island Baby, and Mighty Annie R. are a collective 26 for 46 at their home track. but all three may be outsiders when they face a trio of faster female sprinters from downstate in Sundays $50,000 Susan B. Anthony Handicap.
Towering Escape, Waytotheleft, and Her Royal Nibs all appear a good fit in the six-furlong stakes restricted to New York-bred fillies and mares.
The purse for this year's Grade 3 Longacres Mile on Aug. 19 was increased from $250,000 to $300,000 before this meeting began. This week, owing to a sponsorship agreement with Television Games Network, the Mile purse is being boosted again to $400,000.
The $400,000 purse for the Longacres Mile presented by TVG is the largest ever offered in the Northwest, and it is designed to elevate the status of the Mile to a major prep for the newly created $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile on Oct. 26.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - When most fathers and sons compete, it's on a recreational level. But not Tony McNeil and his son Bryan McNeil. They are both jockeys, and they have been riding against each other on a regular basis this meet at Lone Star Park.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer John Snow is looking for a good effort from Alexandersrun in a no-condition allowance race at Hastings on Sunday.
Alexandersrun is coming off a third-place finish behind Forceful Intention and Spaghetti Mouse in the John Longden 6000, and Snow is hopeful that the easier spot will help Alexandersrun win for the first time since he captured the Emerald Downs Breeders' Cup Derby in 2005.
ETOBICOKE, Canada - Count to Three and Maria Clarissa, the one-two finishers in last year's Zadracarta, will meet again in the 2007 renewal of the race here at Woodbine on Sunday.
The $75,000 Zadracarta is a six-furlong turf race for Ontario-foaled fillies and mares. It seemed destined for the scrap heap late Thursday morning, but several last-minute entries, including Siwa, a speedy 3-year-old filly who was supplemented at a cost of $1,500, saved the day.
MIAMI - Sunday's $50,000 Valid Video Stakes may be considered a prep for the Grade 2 Carry Back Stakes on July 7. But on its own merit, the six-furlong dash for 3-year-olds must be considered one of the best races of the 2007 Calder meet.
The Valid Video drew a strong field of nine that includes the Gradeo3 stakes-placed trio of Izzie's Halo, Frosty Secret, and Drums of Thunder as well as Yesbyjimminy, Double Colico, Finallymadeit, Indian Ashton, and Pop Goes the Tiger.
ELMONT, N.Y. - After a two-week hiatus, Wood Memorial winner Nobiz Like Shobiz returned to the work tab on Friday morning, breezing an easy five furlongs in 1:02.02 over Belmont Park's main track.
Nobiz Like Shobiz, who finished 10th in the Kentucky Derby, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $150,000 Dwyer Stakes at 1 1/16 miles here on July 4.
Nobiz Like Shobiz showed three works from May 18 to Mayo31. Fearing his horse would come to hand too quickly, trainer Barclay Tagg skipped one workout, electing to gallop the colt strongly instead.
Galiano, who last week became the first winner for champion Vindication with an impressive debut win in Texas, could be headed for stakes company at Louisiana Downs, said his trainer, Steve Asmussen.
Galiano beat a promising field of 2-year-olds by four lengths in a maiden race at Lone Star Park on June 10. He broke on top in the 5 1/2-furlong race and set a pressured pace before easily drawing clear of his rivals. The field he defeated included offspring of Northern Afleet, Mt. Livermore, and Wekiva Springs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A last-minute decision led trainer Doug O'Neill to enter Harvard Avenue for Sunday's $60,000 Flame Thrower Stakes at Hollywood Park. The restricted stakes is not the sort of race that O'Neill hoped that Harvard Avenue would be eligible for at this time of year.
The six-furlong Flame Thrower is restricted to horses who have not won a first-place purse of $60,000 or more since March 1. Harvard Avenue has started once since March 1, finishing fourth in the most lucrative sprint of the spring, the $2omillion Golden Shaheen in Dubai on March 31.