Zee Oh Six would cap a meaningful week for trainer Joe Lucas with a win in Saturday night's $40,000 Governor's Cup at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Lucas played a prominent role in helping racetracks in Oklahoma win passage for electronic gaming, and on Monday a casino opened at Remington. He was the first person allowed to play the machines, which helped attract an ontrack crowd of 5,142 on Monday.
PYC Paint Your Wagon, Automatically, and Brindis Por Cayenne bring different qualifications into Saturday night's Grade 1, $1 million Texas Classic Futurity for Quarter Horses at Lone Star Park near Dallas.
PYC Paint Your Wagon set the fastest qualifying time for the 400-yard Texas Classic on Nov. 12, winning one of 13 trials in 19.80 seconds. He is also the highest earner in the field with a bankroll of $170,142.
Automatically is undefeated and ran the third-fastest qualifying time for the Texas Classic, overcoming trouble at the start to win his trial in 19.88.
CHICAGO - Note to self: Bring muffler, scarf, and heaviest coat to racetrack Saturday.
With the mercury struggling to hit 20 degrees here on Thanksgiving, there can be no doubt: Hawthorne's winter meet is in full swing. Another sure sign was the vast number of horses entered on the Saturday card here, including 12 in the featured eighth race. And as difficult as it might be for ontrack fans to keep warm should they venture outside at wintry Hawthorne, it might be equally tough coming up with a winner of the Saturday feature.
MIAMI - It isn't often a horse exiting a three-length setback in a Grade 1 stakes ends up in a race such as Saturday's $40,000 Pass the Line Handicap at Calder. But that will be the case when trainer Christophe Clement sends out Saint Stephen against 11 rivals in the 7 1/2-furlong overnight stakes on the turf.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Bob and John, a promising 2-year-old trained by Bob Baffert, makes his long-awaited stakes debut in Saturday's $100,000 Real Quiet Stakes. For jockey Victor Espinoza, the race cannot arrive soon enough.
Espinoza is convinced that will be an important colt in coming months as the Kentucky Derby nears, and expects that point to be proven in the Real Quiet.
"I think he'll be a nice horse," he said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Badge of Truth, runner-up in the Grade 3 Grey at 1 1/16 miles here Oct. 10, could prove the one to beat as he returns at that distance to face eight rival 2-year-olds in Saturday's $139,250 Display Stakes.
"He's had plenty of time to get ready for this," said Malcolm Pierce, who trains Badge of Truth for Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stable. "From the Grey, this was his next move."
PORTLAND, Ore. - Tamper looks for his second straight score when he heads a field of five in Saturday's $10,000 William Kyne Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile test for older horses.
Tamper, a 5-year-old son of Pleasant Tap who races for David Green, tuned up for the Kyne with a gate-to-wire victory over most of the same foes in the one-mile Polynesian Flyer Invitational Handicap on Nov. 5. Tamper again appears to be the speed of his field and figures to take them as far as he can last under Jose Zunino, who again has the call from trainer Jim Fergason at 121 pounds.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Local fans will need to find some stamina to be able to stay focused through 15 races at Hastings Saturday. The marathon card was scheduled because last Sunday's races were canceled because of heavy fog. Also, this is the final weekend of racing, so there are no other opportunities to make up the races that were lost.
To accommodate the added races the first post has been moved up to 11:30 a.m. Pacific.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - All nine entrants in Saturday's Display Stakes at Woodbine are eligible for Sovereign Award consideration, and the lineup contains several candidates for the award as Canada's leading 2-year-old colt or gelding.
Edenwold, owned by Jim and Alice Sapara and trained by Josie Carroll, moved to the head of his class this summer with successive scores in the Colin, Vandal, and Simcoe, and remains the only three-time stakes winner in the division.
ALBANY, Calif. - Saturday's $50,000 Mill Valley Stakes at Golden Gate Fields attracted a deep field of 2-year-olds, including three stakes winners.
Multiple stakes winners , the likely pacesetter, and Cause to Believe, who will be coming from far off the pace, drew next to each other in the two outside posts in the field of 10 in the six-furlong race. Western Sovereign, who defeated Don Jaun Con in the Harvest Festival Futurity at the Big Fresno Fair, is also entered.