EDMONTON, Alberta - Torch of Freedom will shoot for his second victory of the year when he drops into a field of nine $17,500 claimers going a mile here at Northlands Park on Sunday.
A Florida-bred 4-year-old trained by Rod Haynes, Torch of Freedom defeated $15,000 opponents April 26, wiring that group by three lengths sprinting six furlongs. Since then he has finished second, sixth, and fifth at the $22,000 plateau.
Torch of Freedom will be ridden by Stephan Heiler.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Closing day at what has become Speed Central (aka the Alameda County Fair) finds a paceless field of six signed up for the $50,000 Alamedan Handicap.
The 1 1/16-mile race is filled with turf specialists who seem to prefer to sit back early.
The race could go to the horse brave enough to take the lead, and that may be the strategy trainer Armando Lage employs with First Rate Event.
"I believe my horse is faster than Now Victory," Lage said, citing one of his opponents in ther race. "He'll give you whatever you ask. He will show early foot."
Satan's Code has dominated the last two runnings of the W. Meredith Bailes Memorial Stakes at Colonial Downs. In order to make it three in a row, however, the now 8-year-old Satan's Code must show he can win first time back from a long layoff.
Trained by Scott Lake, Satan's Code will be making his first start since October - and racing on dirt for the first time since winning this same race a year ago - when he faces eight other Virginia-breds in Sunday's $60,000 Bailes at six furlongs.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Bruno Schickedanz, Fort Erie's leading owner for eight consecutive years before he was toppled by Frank Stronach last year, is expanding his horse population here.
Schickedanz already has runners at Fort Erie with trainers Stacey Cooper and Mark Fournier. He is in the process of shipping a half-dozen to the barn of Rob Johnston, who became a licensed trainer just this spring.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Jerome Partington and his wife, Linda Chisom, appear to have found another bargain in Devils Knight.
Partington bought Devils Knight, a Washington-bred gelding by Tough Knight, for $1,600 as a yearling out of the Washington December sale in 2004. So far he's earned more than $34,000, and could significantly add to that figure when he runs in the $75,000 Burnaby Breeders' Cup next Saturday.
A few years ago Partington paid $2,000 for Yaletown, who went on to finish second in the B.C. Derby and earn more than $180,000.
AUBURN, Wash. - Carlos Moreno has been training at Emerald Downs since the track opened in 1996, but he doesn't fault those who failed to note his presence.
"I only had a few horses that I bred myself, and I didn't get many starts out of them," he said. "They were out of a couple of long-distance mares, and they really weren't suited for the racing here."
In the last several years, no apprentice riding at Louisiana Downs has won as many as 10 races at the meet. But heading into this weekend, apprentices Cody Meche, 16 years old, and David Lee Bourque, 17, have already combined for 41 victories.
Both riders have good bloodlines. Meche, who had three wins on the July 4 card, is the younger brother of twins Donnie and Lonnie Meche, who have each won riding titles in the region. Bourque is the son of successful rider and longtime Midwestern regular Curt Bourque and the nephew of former rider Kenny "Chopper" Bourque.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine's converted Standardbred racetrack got its first road test on Friday morning and received a passing grade. The track will host dirt racing here beginning Saturday and through the end of August while a new Polytrack surface is installed on the main track.
Woodbine raced on its former dirt surface for the final time last Monday, and began moving that track's cushion to the inner oval on Tuesday morning.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Strike Softly and Like a Gem failed to show their true colors in the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks on June 11.
But both Strike Softly and Like a Gem had legitimate excuses that day and will be looking to regroup in Sunday's $150,000 Ontario Damsel, a 6 1/2-furlong turf race for Ontario-foaled 3-year-old fillies.
The Woodbine Oaks was just the second start of the season for Strike Softly, who had finished a troubled third when making her seasonal debut in the seven-furlong Fury five weeks earlier.
