At first glance, Flying Glitter looks like the proverbial good thing in the $100,000 Ellis Park Breeders' Cup Turf on Saturday.
And she might very well be a good thing. After all, Flying Glitter has racked up nearly $600,000 in earnings from 15 career starts, and with three stakes victories, including two in graded events, she holds an apparent class edge over her 11 rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race at the Henderson, Ky., track.
CHICAGO - The three fillies who figure to be favored Saturday in the $100,000 Arlington Breeders' Cup Oaks all have questions to answer. How will Baghdaria bounce back from a 35-length drubbing in New York? With Coolwind, the issue is whether she can show her best in a two-turn race. And who knows what to make of Cryptoquip, who drilled Ohio-breds in a $100,000 stakes race at River Downs, only to have her victory erased when the race was declared no-contest because of a starting-gate malfunction.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Miss Concerto was in fine fettle going into the 1 1/16-mile Ontario Matron, her last start, on July 28 at Woodbine.
But there was one question mark regarding Miss Concerto: The Ontario Matron was to be only her third start around two turns, and her earlier attempts, at Oaklawn Park in the winter of 2004, were unproductive.
"I really wasn't sure, but her owners said 'Let's give it a shot,' " said Sid Attard, who trains Miss Concerto for Lou and Carlo Tucci.
MIAMI - There was a time not too long ago when turf sprinters had a hard time banging out a decent living on the south Florida circuit. Five-furlong grass races were almost unheard-of at Gulfstream Park and rarely carded even across town at Calder until late in the season.
East Boston, Mass. - The rivalry between New England's horse of the year, Ask Queenie, and rising star Flirt for Fame enters round four Saturday as those two female Massachusetts-breds take it to the turf in the $40,000 Thomas Moran Stakes at Suffolk Downs.
Between the two of them, Ask Queenie and Flirt for Fame have won all but one statebred stakes race at Suffolk Downs this year.
Local horsemen at Finger Lakes will have their hands full with invaders from the south in Saturday's two six-furlong stakes for New York-bred juveniles, the $127,638 Aspirant for both sexes and the $126,725 Lady Fingers for fillies.
In the Lady Fingers, the deeper of the two races, Bill Mott and Roger Laurin each bring in a good-looking Saratoga-based filly, while Todd Pletcher has a filly who won her maiden at Belmont and has been training at Monmouth.
Smart and Fancy ended her 2005 juvenile season with three straight victories, including two stakes, and she picked up right where she left off by winning the Beautiful Day at Delaware five weeks ago in her first start of this year. Smart and Fancy will try to make it five straight in the $75,000 Twixt, a one-mile stakes for Maryland-bred 3-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Zarb's Dahar is the two-time defending champion of the $100,000 Cajun Stakes, and he goes for the hat trick Saturday in one of the most anticipated events of the 13-race Louisiana Downs Champions Day program. He will square off against nine rivals at six furlongs.
Lava Man, one of the nation's leading older horses and the winner of five consecutive stakes, drew post 2 for Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
Trained by Doug O'Neill for a partnership, Lava Man will be favored in a field of 8. The Pacific Classic is run at 1 1/4 miles.