FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer John Simms believes he has a strong hand for Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong Mike Anderson Memorial, a $30,000 Cup race that will be run as a $10,000 starter allowance here at Fort Erie.

Simms sends out the entry of Fleet Storm and New Kid in Town in the Anderson Memorial, which drew a field of seven.

"Fleet Storm is a hard-knocking horse who always shows up," said Simms. "Given the right trip he will be right there."

Fleet Storm has won 3 of 13 starts this year, two at the Fort and one at Woodbine. He also finished second four times.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park celebrates the continued survival of racing in Minnesota when it hosts the Minnesota Festival of Champions, which features seven Thoroughbred and two Quarter Horse Stakes for statebred runners.

AUBURN, Wash. - Flamethrowintexan will have 11 pursuers in Sunday's 71st running of the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

AUBURN, Wash. - A Classic Life will be trying not to make the same mistake twice when she takes on seven rivals in Sunday's $100,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Distaff at a mile.

A Classic Life, who will be shooting for her eighth win from 10 career starts at Emerald Downs, was favored at 7-10 in last month's Boeing Handicap at 1 1/16 miles. She broke eight to 10 lengths behind her field, however, and could only salvage a fourth-place finish, 9 1/4 lengths behind Dinner at Arlene's.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - When Hurry an Notis won a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race by 14 1/2 lengths July 30, she was given an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. The only other 3-year-old filly to equal that figure for 6 1/2 furlongs at Hastings was the sensational Regal Red.

True Metropolitan, who has been a frequent visitor from Hastings in Vancouver, will be seeking his third stakes score of the Alberta season in the $50,000 Westerner at Northlands Park this Sunday.

The Westerner, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and upward, attracted a field of four.

A 4-year-old gelding trained by Terry Jordan, True Metropolitan finished second in the one-mile Teeworth Plate in Calgary this spring and returned there to capture the 1 1/16-mile Herald Gold Plate.

Nobody deserved to win more than Burl McBride. After enduring nine months of financial and emotional trauma, McBride was part of a tearful winner's circle celebration last weekend at Ellis Park after he sent out Palace Rumor to an upset victory in the $50,000 Audubon Oaks.

CHICAGO - Chris Richard, the young trainer who went out on his own last year after serving as an assistant to Tom Amoss, and years earlier as a trainer in the old Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale outfit, went into 2006 with, one could say, a compact string: Six horses, to be exact. Over the winter at Oaklawn, Richard said, his stable grew to eight or nine, but when the meet ended in April, Richard was back down to six.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - There were no takers when the diminutive Beautiful Venue went through the sale ring as a yearling.

On Sunday, the 2-year-old filly should attract considerable interest as one of the contenders in the $65,000 Junior Champion Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park.

The one-mile race attracted a field of eight, with most, like Beautiful Venue, making their grass debuts.

It looks like eight of the nine horses in the $75,000 Deputed Testamony at Laurel Park on Sunday are running for second money.

In money won, races won, and Beyer Speed Figures earned, the 6-5 morning-line favorite Ah Day lays over the field in the one-mile race for Maryland-bred 3-year-olds.

Ah Day is the lone entrant with a Beyer in the 90's. In the past performances for the field, there are 11 Beyers of 86 or higher, and Ah Day has seven of them.