MIAMI - After facing some of the top 3-year-old competition in Florida this winter in the Grade 1 Florida Derby and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, and taking on older horses in his last two starts, Rehoboth appears to have found a nice spot for his first stakes victory in Saturday's $45,000 Ride the Rails Stakes at Calder.
The 1 1/16-mile Ride the Rails shares top billing on the 13-race program with the $45,000 Arthur L. Stakes, carded at 1 1/2 miles on the turf for older horses.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Mr. Pursuit should get a nice pace setup on Saturday, facing five other 3-year-olds in the $100,000 Alysheba Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park. The one-mile race is one of two stakes on the card. Kalyrra takes on invader Aly's Vow in the $60,000 Lone Star Oaks in the other one.
Mr. Pursuit was fourth last out in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Derby on May 13. He grabbed his right front quarter coming out of the starting gate in that race, which was won by Wanna Runner.
Turfway Park has moved its $825,000 Kentucky Cup series to the last weekend of its fall meet to better accommodate horsemen as they point their horses to the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup championships.
The 13th annual Kentucky Cup will be run Sept. 30, two weeks later than the traditional mid-September date. The new date is five weeks before the 23rd Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not that he was a bad horse to begin with. But in a remarkable reincarnation that began last fall, when Marty Wolfson assumed his training, Miesque's Approval has become a veritable turf star, winning a half-million dollar race in one appearance and defeating a Breeders' Cup champion in another.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Rarely does a $300,000 stakes attract eight graded stakes winners, but that's the case in Saturday's Grade 2 , which drew a field of 13.
While many in the 1 1/8-mile Cornhusker field have stronger credentials, the improving Master Command may prove the one to beat for trainer Todd Pletcher.
Master Command, a 4-year-old son of A. P. Indy, scored his first graded stakes victory in his last start, a gate-to-wire 2 1/4-length score in the Grade 3 William Donald Schaefer Handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Pimlico on May 20.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Grade 1 winner Bishop Court Hill will square off against two-time defending champion Coach Jimi Lee in Saturday's $125,000 Iowa Sprint Handicap at Prairie Meadows.
, trained by Todd Pletcher, scored a gate-to-wire neck victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap going seven furlongs at Aqueduct two starts back on April 8.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - When Quiet Cash runs in the Grade 3, $125,000 Lieutenant Governors on Saturday, it could be the last time local fans get a chance to see him race. The Lieutenant Governors will likely be his last start of the year at Hastings, and according to his trainer, Terry Jordan, it's possible Quiet Cash, 5, will be retired after he runs in the Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs on Aug. 20.
Calista Ridge puts her four-race win streak on the line Saturday night in the $75,000 J. Archie Sebastien Memorial Stakes at Evangeline Downs. The Sebastien is for fillies and mares and is the first of 10 stakes for Louisiana-breds worth a combined $720,000 on Louisiana Legends Night. It will go as the third race on the program, following an early daily double of two Louisiana-bred maiden special weight races. First race post time is 6:40 p.m. Central.
Fisticuff should be favored in Saturday's $100,000 Cleveland Gold Cup at Thistledown, which has drawn a strong field of 12 Ohio-bred 3-year-olds, including two fillies.
Fisticuff, a gelded son of Mercer Mill, won the 1 1/16-mile Green Carpet Stakes at River Downs in his last start on June 3. The Green Carpet was taken off the grass and run on a muddy track.
