It may look as if leading trainer David Anderson is holding all the cards for $12,500-added Hall of Fame Stakes at Columbus and, realistically, he is likely to take home a majority of the purse when he sends out four of the seven starters for the six-furlong feature. Picking the favorite is another matter.
Anderson will send out a coupled entry of Ope and Track Hero, both owned by Alice Mettler, plus a pair of uncoupled horses who both own a three-race win streak: Bevys Dazzler and Indigo Rd.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Hot and Cold, the 4-year-old filly who finished third in the two-furlong, $50,000 Rocket Man Stakes on Calder's Extreme Day card two weeks ago, heads the five-furlong Fort Erie Slots Cup on Saturday.
Scheduled for the turf, the Slots Cup, for fillies and mares, is the first of 20 Cup races on the Fort Erie calendar.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The $500,000 Breeders' Stakes, the 1 1/2-mile turf race that will conclude the Canadian Triple Crown here at Woodbine Sunday, will sport a decidedly different look from its predecessors in the series.
Of the 11 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds entered for the Breeders' on Thursday, only Shillelagh Slew and Ascot Bill will be completing a perfect attendance record for the series, which began here with the Queen's Plate and continued with the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.
Bluegrass Cat, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, drew the outside post for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday at Monmouth Park
The premier event of the Monmouth meet attracted nine 3-year-olds for the 1 1/8-mile race. The Haskell will be televised on ESPN from 5 to 6 p.m. Eastern with live coverage that includes Monmouth's Matchmaker Stakes for fillies and mares and the West Virginia Derby from Mountaineer Racetrack.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine cancelled the last three races on its Wednesday night card due to severe weather conditions. Heavy rain and lightning, along with a strong west wind, hit the Toronto area around 9 p.m., just after the fifth race.
Racing is scheduled to resume with a nine-race card Friday afternoon.
Just when the Del Mar chalk was beginning to look invincible, a host of longshot winners landed on Wednesday, and a pick six carryover of $134,339 is for grabs on Thursday.
The first bomb Wednesday was race 5, a $25,000 maiden claimer won by comeback dropper Smoke N Wagers at 47-1. A half-hour later in race 6, a $10,000 claiming sprint, Return of the King dropped two floors and scored at $72.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Longshots in consecutive races on Wednesday has led to a pick six carryover of $134,339 for Thursday's eight-race program.
Thursday's pick six covers the third through eight races. The six races include four races on dirt for claimers. There is little quality on the program.
The third race is a $10,000 claimer for state-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs. The race drew seven runners and is led by Schwindler, the 6-5 favorite on the morning-line.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - For a variety of reasons, Strong Contender never got untracked in the first half of the season. But a recent dominant victory suggests the son of Maria's Mon is finally poised to impact the national 3-year-old scene, and the Haskell Invitational could be his breakthrough race.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The $1 million Haskell Invitational field could increase to eight with the addition of Little Cliff.
Monmouth race secretary Mike Dempsey said Little Cliff was "a good possibility" for the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds on Sunday.
Little Cliff entered the Haskell picture Wednesday, a day before entries were to be drawn.
Trained by Nick Zito, Little Cliff made his last two starts at Delaware Park, winning a second-level allowance race and running third behind Awfully Smart, a Haskell runner, in the Grade 3 Leonard Richards Stakes on July 16.
