Trainer Carl Anderson sends out three of the five fillies and mares entered in the $40,000 Canada Day Stakes at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Remiewaterbluz, the winner of the 2003 Canada Day, holds the best hope for Anderson in the one-mile race. A 7-year-old daughter of Lucky So n' So, Remiewaterbluz won the La Verendrye Stakes in her first start of this year on June 4. The La Verendrye was also her first start for Anderson.
Pravda, who is making his ninth start at his fourth different racetrack, should prove the one to beat in Saturday's $6,000 Saskatoon Handicap at Marquis Downs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The six-furlong Saskatoon, for 3-year-olds, is the first local step on the path to the $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby here Sept. 9, which is the final day of the meet.
Pravda faces just four foes in the Saskatoon, three of whom are maidens.
Turfway Park has moved its $825,000 Kentucky Cup series to the last weekend of its fall meet in order 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.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Hollywood Park-based Blazing Sunset will go after the biggest payday of his young career as trainer Doug O'Neill has shipped him to Prairie Meadows to face seven rivals in Friday's $250,000 Iowa Derby.
The 1 1/16-mile derby is part of the Iowa Festival of Racing, which offers three six-figure stakes on both Friday and Saturday nights, and brings some of the nation's leading horsemen to central Iowa. O'Neill, Steve Asmussen, and Todd Pletcher will all run multiple horses during the festival.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Baghdaria and Brownie Points head a field of seven in Friday's Grade 3, $200,000 Iowa Oaks going 1 1/16 miles at Prairie Meadows.
Friday night's card, which begins the Iowa Festival of Racing, also includes the $250,000 Iowa Derby and ther $100,000 Saylorville.
Baghdaria scored her third straight victory when she recorded a head win in the Grade 3 Silverbulletday at Louisiana Downs on Jan. 14 at Friday's distance. Following that race, Baghdaria finished off the board when well backed in both the Martha Washington and the Honeybee stakes, both at Oaklawn.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Attima, the winner of the Grade 2 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap earlier this month, will start in Sunday's $750,000 American Oaks, adding much needed depth to Hollywood Park's showcase race for 3-year-old fillies.
Trainer Julio Canani confirmed his plans for Attima on Wednesday after she worked a half-mile in 48 seconds on dirt. Canani timed her in 47.60 seconds.
"She did it like this," Canani said, using his hands to mimic a rider taking a strong hold of a horse.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Sivivatu will answer a couple of questions for Budget Stable and trainer Kathy Walsh when he makes his American debut in an optional claimer at Hollywood Park on Friday.
Can he run two turns or is he best as a sprinter? Does he belong in an upcoming stakes at Del Mar?
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was a little more than a year ago that Swept Gold won her career debut with a flourish at Churchill Downs. Partly because of the way she won, and partly because of her pedigree, the filly's owners were exuberant about her future prospects.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A field of seven turf milers has been entered for Saturday's $250,000 Firecracker Breeders' Cup Handicap, the highlight of the long Fourth of July weekend at Churchill Downs.
Miesque's Approval, the resurgent 7-year-old who upset Artie Schiller in the Grade 2 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland on April 14, arrived here Wednesday from Florida. Miesque's Approval will be ridden in the Firecracker, a one-mile turf race, by his regular jockey, Eddie Castro.
CHICAGO - When Coolwind won her career debut last August at Arlington Park, My Chickadee was a growthy 2-year-old nowhere near making the races. One was ready early, the other much later, but these are the two prime players in Arlington's featured eighth race on Friday.
