ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fresh off a fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Stakes, Uncle Max will shorten up to a mile and drop in class for Sunday's $125,000 Vice Regent Stakes,a turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds at Woodbine.
Uncle Max didn't make his career debut until May 26, and after two mediocre dirt efforts, trainer Catherine Day Phillips tried him on the grass in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special, which he won by a neck.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Hey Hey Renee looks for her fourth stakes win here in Sunday's $40,000 Assiniboia Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by Ardell Sayler, Hey Hey Renee has won five of her six local starts. As a 2-year-old, Hey Hey Renee won at first asking and then was second in the Debutante Stakes before taking the Winnipeg Futurity. This year, Hey Hey Renee has won the Chantilly, the prep for the Jack Hardy, and then the Jack Hardy in her most recent start.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Bovell Road looks to extend her unbeaten streak to three Sunday in the $100,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park.
The top stakes of the meet for 2-year-old fillies, the six-furlong Sorority attracted a field of only five.
Bovell Road, a Todd Pletcher-trained homebred for the Melnyk Racing Stable, initially failed to show much zip in the morning, making it hard to gauge her ability. As a result, Bovell Road debuted at Monmouth on June 22 in a maiden claiming race for a $40,000 tag.
Hirapour, the steeplechase champion of 2004, was injured in the New York Turf Writers Cup on Thursday at Saratoga, possibly ending his career a few months earlier than expected.
Trainer Doug Fout said that the 10-year-old gelding, who was scheduled to be retired at the end of the season, came out of the race with damage to his right front ankle and was lame Friday morning.
"Unfortunately, I think he might have a chip in his ankle," Fout said.
CHICAGO - Shockingly, the Rossi Gold Stakes, which was to be contested Saturday at Arlington Park, lacked a starter from the barn of Christine Janks, the Chicago-based trainer who has been nearly ubiquitous in overnight stakes during this meet.
"I've been scratching my head trying to figure out what happened," said Janks, half-joking of her absence from the Rossi Gold.
Things, however, are quickly back in order. Janks has the horse to beat, Ms. Lydonia, in Sunday's overnight stakes feature, the $40,000 Claire Marine at 1 1/2 miles on turf.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Cinnamon Strike, an impressive winner at first asking at the difficult debut distance of seven furlongs, will attempt to take another step through her conditions at Louisiana Downs on Sunday as she goes against 10 foes in an optional claiming race.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - There is a lot at stake for most of the 11 3-year-old colts and geldings that have been entered in the 1 1/16-mile Richmond Derby Trial at Hastings Sunday. The $50,000 purse is secondary to the automatic berth that the winner receives into the $250,000 British Columbia Derby Sept 24.
Preference for the derby is based on money earned in a horse's 3-year-old season. Seven Secrets has the most earnings this year in the Trial field, $51,211, and last year that would have been enough to get him in the derby field.
EDMONTON, Alberta - After more than a month away from the track, R Lucinda races for a $40,000 tag as she takes on five others in Sunday's six-furlong feature, an optional claimer for fillies and mares.
Trained by Stu Simon, R Lucinda has not seen action since a dismal effort going a mile against similar competition July 26. But her strong fifth-place finish in the Wild Rose Stakes sprinting - she was beaten 3 3/4 lengths against the likes of Stole One, Ice Girl, and Banjo Babe - shows that she has the necessary credentials to be favored here.
ALBANY, Calif. - Will a pair of sisters team up to pull off a mild upset in Sunday's feature at Golden Gate Fields?
Cut the Mustard breezed to a wire-to-wire victory in a $62,000 optional claimer at five furlongs on the turf at the Bay Meadows Fair last out, and she again has a major pace advantage in Sunday's $50,000 optional claimer at 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
