VANCOUVER, British Columbia - If My Master comes anywhere close to running the way he did when he last raced, in December 2004, he will be very tough to beat in Sunday's feature race at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong optional $35,000 claiming sprint drew eight horses and goes as the seventh race.
AUBURN, Wash. - A field of 11 3-year-old fillies vie at six furlongs in Sunday's $40,000 U. S. Bank Stakes, the first stakes at Emerald's 10-year anniversary meeting.
Favoritism will be up for grabs, but one to consider is The Case Queen. Trained by Tom Wenzel for Ron Crockett Inc., The Case Queen won both of her sprint starts last year in impressive fashion. After graduating by 6 1/4 lengths in maiden special weight company in her July 16 debut at 5 1/2 furlongs, The Case Queen came back to defeat allowance rivals by nearly nine lengths at 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 13.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Reigning Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Knights Templar returns from a layoff in the $125,000 Star Shoot Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday.
Knights Templar won 3 of 7 starts last year while earning slightly more than $300,000. She took the six-furlong Ontario Debutante Stakes in August, but the highlight of her season was a front-running 13 1/4-length score in the Grade 3 Mazarine Breeders' Cup Stakes in October, for which she received a 95 Beyer Speed Figure.
AUBURN, Wash. - Chestnut Lady wrapped up last season's juvenile filly honors at Emerald Downs in just two races. She led throughout her six-furlong debut to defeat maiden special weight runners by 2 1/2 lengths, then came from far back to win the Barbara Shinpoch Stakes at a mile by nearly a length.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Racing officials at Churchill Downs have listed 15 horses as prospective starters for the Kentucky Oaks, the 3-year-old filly classic to be run May 5 at the Louisville track.
At this early juncture, Balance, the beaten favorite in the April 8 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, looks like the probable favorite for the Grade 1 Oaks, although there is no shortage of legitimate challengers, including her Ashland conqueror, Bushfire, along with the Fantasy Stakes winner, Ready to Please, and the Beaumont Stakes winner, Diplomat Lady.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - They will run the $150,000 Bed o' Roses Breeders' Cup Handicap for the 50th time on Saturday. If this one goes like many of the previous 49 have, the winner figures to be either Grecian Lover or Smuggler.
Allen Jerkens, the trainer of Grecian Lover, has won this race seven times. Shug McGaughey, the trainer of Smuggler, has won it twice, including last year with Pleasant Home, who last fall pulled off an upset in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Tom Albertrani and Allen Jerkens may be the only trainers with horses entered in Saturday's $100,000 Fort Marcy Handicap who won't be glued to the Weather Channel on Saturday morning.
Albertrani has entered Sabre D'Argent, who will run in the Fort Marcy whether the Grade 3 race stays on the turf at 1 1/16 miles as scheduled or is moved to the dirt and run at a one-turn mile. Jerkens has entered Ecclesiastic for the turf and will run Ecclesiastic and Kennel Up if the race is moved to the dirt.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - To those who bet Silver Train down to 1-2 favoritism, his second-place finish in a three-horse allowance race Thursday at Aqueduct was quite disappointing. To Richard Dutrow Jr., his trainer, the race was just fine as a prep for next month's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on May 29.
"Bottom line, I was happy with his race," Dutrow said. "He ran a good race. It's a good set-up for his next race. As long as he returns to form at Belmont, we're going to be good."
ALBANY, Calif. - The long-awaited return of Eclipse sprint champion Lost in the Fog takes place Saturday in the $100,000 Golden Gate Fields Sprint, which looks like a match race between the champ and Carthage.
Although four opponents signed up to meet Lost in the Fog in the six-furlong race, only Carthage looks to have the speed to challenge him.
CHICAGO - Some tidbits about an aging horse named Colita. Colita's original trainer, Carlos Morales, doesn't even train horses anymore, at least not in this country. Way back in 2003, Colita raced at Tampa Bay Downs against Coach Jimi Lee, who owns the six-furlong track record at Hawthorne. Colita was bred by Charles Nuckols and Sons, which means he was a product of the old Russell Reineman operation, one of the better-known in Chicago.