ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Seductively and Strike Softly both have a shot at being a finalist for this year's Canadian champion 3-year-old filly, and a victory in Sunday's $150,000 Jammed Lovely Stakes at seven furlongs at Woodbine might bolster their chances.
Seductively won her first stakes on an easy lead going 1 1/16 miles, in the Grade 3 Selene in May. She then finished third in the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks.
Rocky Gulch will defend his title in the $200,000 New Mexico Cup Classic, and with a win would surpass $1 million in earnings, which would be a first for a Thoroughbred bred in New Mexico. It would be only the latest accomplishment for Rocky Gulch, who has become popular for spotting large amounts of weight to his rivals and winning, time and time again.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The turf filly La Mottie has traveled from England to New York to California looking for easier company, faster ground, and a better trip. She may find all three Sunday at Hollywood Park.
La Mottie drops in class and switches to firm turf for the $60,000 Audrey Skirball-Kenis Stakes, a nine-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies. Based on outstanding European form, La Mottie is the most likely winner, assuming she gets clear sailing in the 11-runner field.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Sunday's feature race at Hastings, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race for horses that haven't won a stakes in 2006, appears to be a wide-open event.
Four of the six horses that have been entered made their last start outside of British Columbia.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A dozen horses trained by Todd Pletcher arrived at Hollywood Park on Thursday, the first shipment of a stable that could eventually reach 40 horses.
The nation's leading trainer in money earnings with more than $26.4 million through Thursday, Pletcher has shipped horses to California for specific stakes in past years. This is the first time he will keep a stable in California on a full-time basis. Pletcher said earlier this year that the stable will remain in California through the winter and possibly longer.
Lassen County will try to overcome his runner-up habit with a step forward in the Grade 3, $30,000 Corona Chick Handicap on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
Lassen County finished second in a division of the California Breeders Freshman Stakes and the Autumn Handicap, and was disqualified from second place in the Pomona Juvenile Championship.
Gun Battle and Arealstraitheart, the fastest qualifiers, will be the solid favorites in the $332,250 New Mexico Classic Futurity and the $163,380 New Mexico Classic Derby, respectively, on Sunday afternoon at Zia Park.
The futurity and derby are part of New Mexico Cup Day, with more than $2 million in purses for the stakes-filled program for New Mexico-bred Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
Defending world champion DM Shicago attempts to regain his Grade 1-winning form when he starts in the Grade 1, $300,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship, the marquee event of the MBNA America Challenge Championships on Saturday night at Lone Star Park.
The stakes-filled program features three other Grade 1 stakes and the Grade 2, $150,000 Ford Juvenile Challenge Championship. The other Grade 1 stakes are the $200,000 Bayer Legend Derby Challenge Championship, $100,000 John Deere Distaff Challenge Championship, and the $100,000 Red Cell Distance Challenge Championship.
A surprise appearance by Preakness runner-up Sweetnorthernsaint has stirred up excitement in the waning days of Delaware Park's 2006 meet.
Sweetnorthernsaint, who has raced just once since finishing 5 1/4 lengths behind probable 3-year-old champion Bernardini in the May 20 Preakness, showed up among the entries for Saturday's 1 1/16-mile Odessa, an overnight stakes worth a modest $54,000, on the next-to-last weekend of Delaware's season.
Florida Keys is the most accomplished horse in Saturday's $40,000 Walter R. Cluer Memorial at Turf Paradise, but he hasn't been in the best form of late and hasn't won since May. Itstufftobegood comes off a nice win on the main track here and now moves to turf, which may not be his best surface.
So, Chief Cocca, who has blossomed in recent months for trainer Eric Kruljac, may be ready to play spoiler in the 7 1/2-furlong grass event, which is named for the track's founder and lured a field eight.
