Racing at Keeneland will not look the same when its synthetic Polytrack surface is unveiled this fall, but the track's stakes races will remain very similar to those from recent years.
Keeneland announced its fall stakes schedule on Thursday, and it differs little from last year's schedule. Nineteen stakes are on tap, with purses totaling $5.1 million, narrowly up from 2005's fall-meet total of $5,075,000. The 17-day meet runs Oct. 6-28.
The last time Comalagold was seen at Lone Star Park, she wired a field of optional claimers at 5-1. She won't be near as generous a price on Saturday, when she starts as the probable favorite in Lone Star's $40,000 Miller Lite Stakes.
invades from Louisiana for the five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares. Others in the 11-horse field include Heres a Memory and Seneca Song, who race as a coupled entry for trainer Chris Hartman, and Magic Power, a turf sprint specialist for trainer John Locke.
True Tails established herself as the favorite for the $50,000 Suthern Accent more than a month ago, when she won an optional claimer with ease at Louisiana Downs. Saturday, the story has not changed. True Tails is the one to beat as the controlling speed in this year's Suthern Accent.
A six-furlong race for fillies and mares, the stakes drew a field of six. Among the leading contenders are Graziella and Space Cruise, who finished one-two last out in the $75,000 Tellike at Evangeline Downs, and Picata, who is on a win streak at Louisiana Downs.
STOCKTON, Calif. - Candy Jo appears the best bet on paper on Saturday's San Joaquin County Fair race card as she comes north to run in the $40,000-added Sweepida.
But will she be the best bet on the racetrack?
Trained by Jeff Mullins, the 3-year-old Candy Jo's best Beyer is 20 points higher than any of her eight rivals in the 5 1/2-furlong race. All her Beyers in her past five starts are higher than anyone else's best.
But there's something Devons Smokin has that Candy Jo doesn't. Make that two somethings: two stakes victories.
Trainer Mike Joiner admits to being surprised that the colt FDD Dynasty is a leading contender for Saturday's $1,142,000 Ed Burke Million Futurity at Los Alamitos.
Getting this far seemed remote during the spring, when FDD Dynasty was training for his debut.
"So far, he's been one of those colts that shows up on race night," Joiner said. "Before his first race, he wasn't a great work horse. He looked nice and fairly talented, but it seems like every race he's gotten better and better."
Seen Dancing, winning the Gowell Stakes in December, makes her second start on turf Saturday in the Northbound Pride Stakes at Canterbury Park.
Defending champion Gamblers Passion heads a well-matched field of six Iowa-bred fillies and mares in Saturday's $70,000 Hawkeyes Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Prairie Meadows.
Two starts back, Gamblers Passion scored a 2 1/2-length win in the $65,000 Mamie Eisenhower for statebreds at six furlongs, defeating three of the five rivals she will face in the Hawkeyes.
Seekingthereinbow will put her unbeaten record on the line when she faces nine 3-year-old fillies in the $40,000 Northbound Pride Stakes at Canterbury Park.
A winner of four straight races, Seekingthereinbow was never threatened in her most recent outing, when she led from start to finish to win the Iowa-bred-restricted Bob Bryant Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths. It was her first stakes win.
Trainer Bill Conyers will send out a strong entry of Mr Tire and Thoughtuwasatoad to head a field of eight in the $17,500 State Fair Derby at Lincoln.
The Conyers entry will be countered by two runners from leading trainer David Anderson, who sends out the Alice Mettler-owned entry of Ope and Track Hero.
Girlish Giggle rates a slight edge over her 11 Ohio-bred distaff rivals in the fourth running of the $50,000 J. William Petro Memorial Handicap at Thistledown. The race will be decided over 1 1/16 miles.
A 5-year-old owned and trained by W. John Bourke, Girlish Giggle was second in a 1 1/16-mile handicap in her season debut here June 3. Last season, she won 3 of her 4 starts, including a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Rose DeBartolo Memorial last July. She has the tactical speed to be well placed under Tommy Meyers and carries 118 pounds.
While T.D. Vance and Tiganello will garner a good deal of public support by virtue of their one-two finish in the recent Eight Thirty Stakes at Delaware Park, Foufa's Warrior, a seasoned veteran who loves the Delaware turf course, could be poised to spring an upset there Saturday in the $100,000 Sussex Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile grass race.
Foufa's Warrior, a 6-year-old Jade Hunter gelding, finished third behind T.D. Vance and Tiganello in the Eight Thirty, but as a late runner he was compromised by a dawdling pace that included an opening half-mile in 50.26 seconds.
