Trainer Todd Pletcher sends out three horses Sunday in a bid for a second straight victory in the $75,000 Miss Grillo Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on the turf.
Pletcher will hope one of the three develops as nicely as last year's Miss Grillo winner, Wait a While, who is a leading contender for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.
This time Pletcher has Storm Dixie, Brushed Gold, and Tremendous One, who will be uncoupled in the wagering.
Washington-based horses often make a big impact in northern California each fall when they ship south after the Emerald Downs season. Eight of them will compete on Sunday's nine-race card, and their presence allowed two races to have enough horses to be carded, including a $12,500 claimer at one mile in which four of the eight runners were Emerald regulars. The nonwinners-of-two race is a showdown between the Washington-based forces and locally based runners.
In his third trip to Woodbine, Atticus Kristy will contest Sunday's Grade 2, $500,000 Nearctic Stakes, a supporting feature on Canadian International Day.
Based at Churchill Downs with trainer Merrill Scherer, Atticus Kristy finished third over yielding ground in the 2005 Nearctic. This year, he has been first or second in 6 of 9 starts over six different tracks.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When Meteor Storm blew into town for a second-place finish in last year's $2omillion Canadian International, he was making the eighth start of a campaign that had started in early March at Santa Anita.
But when Meteor Storm runs in Sunday's Grade 1 Canadian International over 1 1/2 miles of turf, he will be making only his second start of the year, after finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Kelso over one mile of turf at Belmont on Sept. 30.
Marianne Rose makes herself at home wherever she goes. A winner this year at Emerald Downs, Hastings Park, and Fairplex, she has traveled to Zia Park in search of her third straight stakes win Sunday in the $60,000 Permian Basin.
The six-furlong race is for 2-year-old fillies, and the field of seven also includes Lunarlady, the winner of the $40,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante, and Sis Got Game, a winner at Retama Park of her last two starts. Lunarlady was cross-entered in a stakes Friday night at Remington Park.
Barring an unforeseen form reversal, Mr. Mink should win his third consecutive Brickyard Stakes at Hoosier Park on Sunday.
Mr. Mink is such an imposing presence among Indiana-bred sprinters that bettors will be hard pressed to make a legitimate case for any of the other Brickyard starters, which include a veteran $10,000 claimer and a hopelessly overmatched maiden.
The one opponent who would have had an outside chance, Father Art, probably won't run if Mr. Mink runs, as they share common ownership and both have Tom Pompell named to ride.
Golden Gate Fields averaged $2,695,536 in all-sources handle on its races for its 36-day fall meet that ended on Sunday. Precise comparisons with the same period last year are impossible because the fall meet was run last year at Bay Meadows, which conducted 33 days of racing. The 2005 Bay Meadows meeting had an average all-sources daily handle of $2,883,979, 6.5 percent greater than this years Golden Gate fall meet.
Total all-sources handle through mid-October on races at Golden Gate and Bay Meadows is down about 5 percent from last year.
Golden Gate Fields averaged $2,695,536 in all-sources handle on its races for its 36-day fall meet that ended on Sunday. Precise comparisons with the same period last year are impossible because the fall meet was run last year at Bay Meadows, which conducted 33 days of racing. The 2005 Bay Meadows meeting had an average all-sources daily handle of $2,883,979, 6.5 percent greater than this years Golden Gate fall meet.
Total all-sources handle through mid-October on races at Golden Gate and Bay Meadows is down about 5 percent from last year.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Deputy Fudge is dropping from a third-place finish against allowance company to take on four others for a $30,000 tag here Sunday, the final day of the 2006 Northlands Park meeting.
After an inauspicious early season campaign in which the 6-year-old managed to light the board only once in five starts, Deputy Fudge found his form in August and strung together a three-race winning streak that saw him win for a $22,000 tag and twice at the $30,000 level for trainer Wendy Kadar.