POMONA, Calif. - Expectations are usually high for Anziyan Royalty, the 5-year-old who will be favored to win the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Handicap on Sunday at Fairplex Park.
A field of nine entered the 1 1/8-mile Hinds, the centerpiece of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet that ends Monday. It is one of the last opportunities for Anziyan Royalty to run over a track he likes, against competition he should beat.
POMONA, Calif. - King Robyn, the only horse to win stakes at the six Southern California race meets in one season, will try to write another chapter to his exceptional career Sunday at Fairplex Park.
King Robyn runs Sunday in the $60,000 Governor's Cup, his first start since May 29, 2004. He did not land an easy comeback spot, but he has always been up to a challenge.
"He's one of those horses that loves to run and loves to win," trainer Jeff Mullins said. "Up to this point he's training like the old King Robyn, but you never know until you run them."
Lost in the Fog completed his preparations for next Saturday's $100,000 Bay Meadows Speed Handicap by working five furlongs in 57.20 seconds at Golden Gate Fields on Friday morning.
The workout was the best of 27 at the distance and 1.60 seconds faster than the clocking for Fame's Flame, the only other runner to work in less than one minute. Trainer Greg Gilchrist said he was disappointed that Lost in the Fog worked so fast.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Executive Time is taking a drop in class Sunday to face seven other $17,500 female claimers in a six-furlong sprint at Northlands Park.
Executive Time, trained by Floyd Arthur, is coming off second- and fourth-place finishes in $22,000 company at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Before those efforts, Executive Time had been competing at the $30,000 level, where she won a sprint July 3 for her second victory of the season. Real Simard retains the mount.
Greg Tracy is sending out 3-year-old Trompeta, who has been productive at this level.
AUBURN, Wash. - Among the more interesting races yet to be decided at the current Emerald Downs meeting is the one for leading trainer.
With 14 days of the 101-day meeting left coming into this week, Tim McCanna and Frank Lucarelli were in a flat-footed tie for first with 43 wins apiece, and Jim Penney was just one win back with 42.
With less than a week to go before the Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby and some 52 horses nominated to that signature event at Louisiana Downs, pinning down who will be in the field is difficult.
Smokescreen is a definite; he is set to fly into town for the Oct. 1 race on Tuesday. The status of Nolan's Cat was pending a workout over the weekend, while locals Royal Saint and Silver Haze are a go. Among possibles are A.P. Arrow, Magna Graduate, and Key Issues.
Dance With Ravens was reinstated as the winner of the June 5 when the Ontario Racing Commission on Thursday reversed a decision by the Woodbine stewards.
Dance With Ravens had finished first by a neck in the Plate Trial under jockey Todd Kabel but was disqualified following an inquiry initiated by the stewards, who ruled Dance With Ravens had interfered with the sixth-place finisher, Atanas, approximately a sixteenth of a mile into the race. Atanas did stumble at that point but his rider, Rui Pimentel, did not lodge a claim of foul.
STICKNEY, Ill. - They said at Hawthorne Race Course in the fall that they will produce big, bettable fields. And so far, they have.
Friday's opening day card brought out 104 entries, an average of 10.4 per race. Saturday, the total number was 98 for a 10-race program, and when Sunday's card was drawn early Friday afternoon, 80 horses were entered in nine races, an average of 9.5 per race.
Discreetly Irish has won the Manhattan three years in a row, and on Sunday at The Woodlands will be favored to win the six-furlong stakes for the fourth straight time. The Manhattan shares a card with the Sunflower Stakes, both races for 3-year-olds and up bred in Kansas.
The stakes doubleheader serves to usher in the 20-race stakes schedule at The Woodlands, the Kansas City, Kan., track that opened its meet Saturday.
