Multiple stakes winner Just Michel is the likely favorite going six furlongs against seven other Ohio-bred fillies and mares in the $40,000 Scarlet and Gray Handicap at Beulah Park.
Just Michel, who does her best running from off the pace, has won 5 of her 8 starts this year, including three straight stakes.
West Virginia shipper True Kiss and a strong entry from trainer Gerald Bennett's barn head the competition for a pair of restricted stakes at Great Lakes Downs.
Each race is worth $42,500. They will be contested at one mile and are restricted to the 3-year-old progeny of the 2001 Michigan Thorough-bred Owners and Breeders Assoc-iation stallion season auction.
Ranger B. steps up from the claiming ranks for the $40,000 Osage Hills at Remington Park, but he looks like the controlling speed in the five-furlong turf race, restricted to horses bred in Oklahoma.
Most in the field of 11 are stakes winners or stakes placed, but few are as quick from the gate as Ranger B. He has broken on top in his last eight starts, and judging from his win in an optional claiming event two races back, he should be prominent.
The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan., will close out its meet with its richest card, as five stakes will be decided, led by the $20,000 Woodlands Juvenile for Thoroughbreds and the $100,000 estimated Kansas Jackpot Futurity for Quarter Horses.
Kelly Carson will take on males in the Juvenile, a six-furlong race that drew 12. She beat them in her last race, when she won the $10,000 Club House at Columbus over Slew Lucky, who returned in his next start to win an allowance. Kelly Carson is by Lord Carson, and her dam, Mips, was a two-time stakes winner who earned $200,404.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The brilliantly fast Devil's Bride makes her much-anticipated second start Saturday at Woodbine in the $166,050 Fanfreluche, a six-furlong stakes for Ontario-foaled 2-year-old fillies.
Devil's Bride was bet down to 3-5 when she debuted in a five-furlong maiden special dash Sept. 7, and led all the way for a 6 1/2-length tally. Her time of 57.80 seconds translated into a Beyer Speed Figure of 74.
Trainer Reade Baker said he has always been high on Devil's Bride, a flashy chestnut by Devil's Bag.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainer Rolland Fergason is back campaigning full time at Portland Meadows for the first time since the 1998-99 meeting, when he won the training title with what was then a record 48 wins. His brother, Jim Fergason, broke that record at the 2003-04 stand, with 50 wins.
Rolland Fergason and his wife, Debora, have started several horses here in the intervening years, but he has spent most of his time racing in Arizona and New Mexico.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Bullishdemands is expected to take on older rivals in Saturday's $10,000 Diane Kem Handicap at Portland Meadows. As of early Thursday, Bullishdemands and Corona Del Hielo were two of the fillies and mares expected to be entered in the six-furlong race.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Crown's Justice, an Ontario-bred trained by Pam McDougall, takes a drop from the $30,000 ranks to meet seven other $22,000 claimers in the closing-day feature here at Northlands Park on Saturday.
The first race, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint, will go at 11 a.m and the balance of the card will be fitted in between the Breeders' Cup races.
Crown's Justice won at the $30,000 level two starts ago in a six-furlong sprint and was fifth at that level going a mile last out. Rickey Walcott pilots Crown's Justice, who will bid for his fourth victory of the year.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Bashert, one of the leading 2-year-olds this summer, is gearing up for a late-season campaign with an eye toward the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17. Runner-up in the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile and Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar, Bashert has not raced or breezed since Sept. 7, when he flipped in the paddock and finished seventh as the third betting choice in the Grade 2 Del Mar Futurity, won by Stevie Wonderboy.
