VANCOUVER, British Columbia - From May 21, 2001, through June 4, 2005, Lord Nelson started 24 times at Hastings. He won 13 races, finished second nine times, and third twice. All 24 of the races were stakes.
For that period of time, he was the horse to beat every time he stepped on the track. He was named the top handicap horse in the province four years in a row, and in 2004 he was honored as the local horse of the year.
AUBURN, Wash. - Karis Makaw was assigned co-high weight of 119 pounds for Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong Washington State Legislators Handicap, which didn't surprise trainer Bob Meeking. Karis Makaw earned her impost with a pair of impressive stakes wins here last season, and she did little to tarnish her reputation when she closed with a rush to be beaten less than a length by Kissntheboysgoodby in the six-furlong Hastings Park Handicap on May 14.
Nevertheless, Meeking feels that Kissntheboysgoodby, trained by Charlie Essex, is the one to beat on Sunday.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last year, Gold Strike became the first Manitoba-bred to win the Woodbine Oaks.
Trainer Mark Casse obviously is hoping that particular piece of history can repeat itself here Sunday when he saddles the Manitoba-bred Kimchi for the $500,000, 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks.
Kimchi, a $70,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale, races for the Seasoft Stable of Sal and Colleen Simeone.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Daniel Taylor is not enjoying the best of health. He moves determinedly, but with a stoop.
Taylor, 56, has been a blacksmith since he was 15.
In his dual role as a trainer, however, Taylor sports a robust win percentage of 41.7 here at Fort Erie this year, having scored with five of his first 12 starters.
Heading into the weekend, only Stacey Cooper had more winners, with seven - and Cooper has had 32 starters.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Invaders figure to make Sunday's edition of the $40,000 Chantilly one of the toughest in recent years at Assiniboa Downs.
Eight 3-year-old fillies will contest the six-furlong feature, with U R Flashy and Diamondsintheway both making their first starts locally.
For U R Flashy, a daughter of Bold n' Flashy who has raced six times, it will be her first start away from Woodbine. As a 2-year-old, U R Flashy defeated Ontario-sired maidens in her second career start, then followed that race by winning the restricted Nandi Stakes at the Chantilly distance.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Five weeks was an awfully long time before the Kentucky Derby, long enough to scare some skeptics from selecting Barbaro for that reason alone. Yet the same five-week layoff that some handicappers found so disconcerting for the Derby is a non-issue for just about any other race throughout the year, including the Belmont Stakes, where, in recent years, fresh has been best.
ELMONT, N.Y. - If it ever stops raining long enough to run races on the grass, Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan Handicap at Belmont Park should offer bettors plenty of options, and, in the end, the handicap turf division could have a clear leader.
The field of nine entered for the Manhattan, scheduled for 1 1/4 miles on Belmont's inner turf course, includes winners of major stakes this year in Florida, Kentucky, and California. It also includes a pair of Grade 1 winners from last year, including the defending Manhattan winner, Good Reward.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A mile might be a little shorter than ideal for Teammate, and she has not run for three months. But the allure of a potential victory in a Grade 1 race makes the $250,000 Acorn Stakes a tempting target for trainer Allen Jerkens, who will bring Teammate back to the races on Saturday in a competitive renewal of one of Belmont Park's elite races for 3-year-old fillies.
The Acorn, a one-turn mile, has lured a field of nine, including such well-regarded runners as Ermine, the Kentucky Oaks runner-up, and Adieu, who won the Frizette over this track last year.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When last they met, Too Much Bling crushed Songster by nine lengths in the Grade 3 Bay Shore Stakes over a sloppy Aqueduct track. When they meet again in Saturday's $250,000 Woody Stephens Breeders' Cup Handicap - formerly the Riva Ridge - at Belmont Park, Tom Albertrani, the trainer of Songster, believes he may be able to turn the tables.
In the Bay Shore, and appeared much more comfortable over the sloppy going than did Songster. While Too Much Bling hasn't run since the Bay Shore, Songster came back to win the Grade 3 Hirsch Jacobs at Pimlico by 10 lengths.
