CALGARY, Alberta - Stampede Park racing secretary Russ Armstrong received 14 entries Wednesday morning for a $30,000 claimer and made the decision to split the race. The races offer fans a glimpse of some of the better claimers on the grounds and are carded as races 4 and 8. All nine races on the card are slated for six furlongs.
AUBURN, Wash. - Local sprint champion Marva Jean will have them playing her game when she tops a field of 10 stakes-quality fillies and mares in Saturday's feature at Emerald Downs, a 5 1/2-furlong optional $40,000 claimer with a purse of $20,000.
ALBANY, Calif. - Carthage is one in a long line of recent top claims for trainer Art Sherman.
Carthage, who should give Lost in the Fog a true test in Saturday's Golden Gate Fields Sprint, has won 5 of 8 starts since Sherman claimed him for $32,000 on Sept. 1, 2004, at Del Mar.
"I noticed he was a first-time gelding, but he was by a nice horse," Sherman said. "I needed a horse with conditions, so we took a shot."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - This meet got off to a dramatic start for jockey Mark Walker. Riding his first race since 2000, Walker guided 7-1 shot Sindi's Success to a nose decision over Regal Daniell. Walker's other mount on the day, first-time starter Knotty Ash, also won.
Not a bad day for someone who thought he would never ride again.
"It's hard to describe how I feel," Walker said. "Wow is about all I can say. It couldn't have gone any better."
PORTLAND, Ore. - Forty Durango will try for his fourth straight win in Saturday's feature at Portland Meadows, an allowance for older runners at 5 1/2 furlongs.
Forty Durango, an 8-year-old from the barn of trainer Carlos Moreno, is fresh off a victory over the heavily favored Slewicide Cruise in the five-furlong Flashaway Invitational Handicap on Portland Meadows Mile Day, April 8. Forty Durango slipped through on the rail turning for home and then finished furiously to edge Slewicide Cruise by a nose in 59.80.
Insan Mala, a Grade 1 stakes performer last year at 3, returns to the allowance ranks to launch her 2006 campaign in Saturday's third race at Gulfstream Park. The $37,000 allowance feature will be decided at 1 1/16 miles on turf and is one of six races on the nine-race program scheduled for the grass.
After being beaten a combined 39 3/4 lengths in his three previous starts, Military Major got back on track by finishing a close second in his most recent start, an optional $32,000 claimer at Tampa Bay Downs on March 25. He will try to build on that run Saturday, when he takes on Forever Wild and seven others in an optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles on Saturday's 11-race program.
Multiple stakes winner Kingsfield heads a field of six 3-year-olds entered in Saturday's $50,000 six-furlong Golden Circle Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Kingsfield finished his 2-year-old campaign here on Sept. 5 by rallying to score a two-length victory in the six-furlong Prairie Meadows Freshman Stakes, earning a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, tops in Saturday's race.
My Halo returns to action off his first stakes victory, which came in the Fonner Park Special Stakes, and faces seven others in the $15,000-added Baxter Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.
My Halo is enjoying a two-race win streak despite leaving the gate slowly in both of his starts this year. He closed from well back to win a first-level allowance race on Feb. 25, then returned with a strong run late to take the Fonner Special by three-quarters of a length. My Halo has R. D. Williams aboard from post 3 and is part of an uncoupled entry for trainer David Anderson.
Defending champion Just Michel heads a field of seven Ohio-bred fillies and mares in the $50,000 Angenora Stakes at six furlongs.
Just Michel, a multiple-stakes-winning 6-year-old mare by Pacific Waves, enters the Angenora on a three-race winning streak, which dates back to December.