It seems like a stretch, but some owners with horses in Sunday's C.J. Hindley-Humboldt County Marathon are comparing the race to the Kentucky Derby.
"The purse is very low, but there's something special about it," said Cindy Olsen, who will start Derby Rider along with partners Jack Retzloff and Roy DeMarta. "This is like the Kentucky Derby here at Ferndale."
It's not just locals who feel that way.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Edenwold and Shillelagh Slew will be taking their rivalry on the road. Both are heading to Northlands Park in Edmonton for the Aug. 26 Canadian Derby, a 1 3/8-mile race that offers Grade 3 status and a purse of $300,000.
Edenwold and Shillelagh Slew met in the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, with Edenwold winning Woodbine's Queen's Plate and Shillelagh Slew winning Fort Erie's Prince of Wales via disqualification. Edenwold skipped the Breeders' at Woodbine on Aug. 6, when Shillelagh Slew finished third to Royal Challenger.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The trainer's race at Hastings is starting to heat up. Through last weekend, Terry Jordan and Terry Clyde were tied for the lead with 26 wins. Close on their heels were Barb Heads and Gary Demorest, who won his first training title last year. Heads has won 24 races at the meet, good for third place, and Demorest is fourth with 23 wins.
Okey Dokey Fantasy, undefeated in eight starts including three futurities, is expected to be favored in the $2,050,000 All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 4 after setting the 10th fastest qualifying time in Thursday's trials.
Ridden by Juan Vazquez for trainer John Boegner, Okey Dokey Fantasy won the ninth of 17 trials run on a sealed track. He ran 440 yards in 21.31 seconds, the 10th and final qualifying spot.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pine Island received a baptism by fire running in Grade 1 stakes in her third and fourth starts. She acquitted herself well by finishing second, beaten less than a length, both times.
With those two efforts under her belt, and a switch to a Saratoga surface that is playing to her late-running style, Pine Island looks well positioned to win her first Grade 1 in Saturday's $600,000 at Saratoga. The Alabama, restricted to 3-year-old fillies, is run at 1 1/4 miles.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On the Bus will make the final start of her successful career in Saturday's $100,000 Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga. But there are a couple of familiar rivals who will look to spoil her retirement party.
Sabellina, who beat On the Bus by a nose in the 2004 Yaddo, and Finlandia, whom On the Bus beat by a head in a division of this race last year, are the primary challengers in the field of 11 New York-bred fillies and mares set to run 1 1/8 miles on the Mellon Turf Course.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Without Wait a While in the field, things will be easier for the 3-year-old turf fillies in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Del Mar Oaks.
With Wait a While, the winner of the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood Park last month, remaining in New York, the field for the Del Mar Oaks is dominated by locally based fillies, with a few accomplished visitors added to the field of 10.
DEL MAR, Calif. - To stretch his winning streak to six, Lava Man may find himself having to make all the running in Sunday's $1 million at Del Mar. Lava Man on Wednesday drew post 2, one spot to the inside of Preachinatthebar, the runner-up in the San Diego Handicap on July 22, who is also expected to be part of the pace.
Those two are the only horses with front-running experience in the field of eight.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The enigmatic Spellbinder makes his sprint stakes debut in Sunday's $300,000 Pat O'Brien Breeders' Cup Handicap at Del Mar, a race that has drawn a strong field of eight.
The Pat O'Brien is one of three stakes on Sunday's card, which is highlighted by the $1 million Pacific Classic.
