ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Turf specialist Elle Runaway will try the main track Saturday at Woodbine in the $135,875 La Lorgnette Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.
Elle Runaway, trained by Malcolm Pierce for Live Oak Plantation, put it all together in her last two starts on turf, winning the Ontario Colleen Handicap and the allowance prep for that stakes.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Local star Alabama Rain will have to run the race of his life to cross the wire first in a very competitive field of 3-year-olds in the Grade 2, $250,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings on Saturday.
Of the 12 horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile B.C. Derby, six, including Emerald Downs Breeders' Cup Derby winner Alexandersrun, are shipping in from other jurisdictions.
EDMONTON, Alberta - The $50,000 Beaufort could be the most interesting race on Saturday's Alberta Fall Classic Day at Northlands Park, which features seven stakes for Alberta-breds worth a total of $400,000.
The Beaufort, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, attracted a field of 10 and in large part figures to be a showdown between Alberta Derby champion Knight's Covenant and Canadian Derby runner-up Ding Dong Dandy.
Also returning from the 1 3/8-mile Canadian Derby are Cinderchance and Forever Rascal.
With a well-heeled owner and apprenticeships under two Hall of Famers behind him, Reynaldo Abreu appears to have a bright future as a trainer. But even the brightest prospects often need to take some cuts in the minors, and this former Nick Zito assistant has been taking advantage of his chances at Suffolk Downs.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Closing Argument helped put the NATC Futurity on the map when he captured last year's colt division for his first stakes victory. The NATC Futurity was one of the stepping-stones leading to his surprising second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
The next crop of 2-year-olds sold at auction this season can take a step toward greater glory Saturday when, for the first time, Monmouth Park hosts a pair of $200,000 NATC Futurity divisions for colts and fillies at six furlongs.
The races had been held at Delaware Park for the last three years.
Zee Oh Six and George Taylor are riding different kind of win streaks into Saturday night's $75,000 Oklahoma Classics Day Classic at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
has won his last two starts while George Taylor has won the last two runnings of the 1 1/16-mile Classic, one of seven stakes worth $315,000 on this Oklahoma Classics Day.
The races are restricted to Oklahoma-breds eligible to the series, and combined they make for one of the richest cards of the meet at Remington.
Wayzata Bay and Yak the Desert Rat lead a field of six 3-year-olds entered in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Derby, the closing-day feature of the mixed meeting.
Wayzata Bay has kept the best company of any of the entrants in the 1 1/16-mile derby, winning the Prairie Mile in June and finishing fourth, beaten less than four lengths, in the $250,000 Iowa Derby on July 1.
In his most recent start, Wayzata Bay rallied to finish third, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, after having to wait for racing room in upper stretch in the mile-and-70-yard Minneapolis at Canterbury on Sept. 5.
Beulah Park on Saturday begins its 60-day fall meeting, which runs through Dec. 21.
The meet is highlighted by next Saturday's Best of Ohio Day, which rotates on a yearly basis between the state's three Thoroughbred tracks and features five stakes for Ohio-breds. The stakes range in value from $50,000 to $75,000.
The inaugural season at Evangeline Downs's new facility concludes with a program featuring nine sprinters going 4 1/2 furlongs in the $40,000 Need for Speed Stakes.
Joyful Tune, who has raced almost exclusively on turf this season at Lone Star Park and Louisiana Downs, returns to the main track for the first time since just missing at Delta Downs in January. The 7-year-old Joyful Tune beat upper-level claimers by 2 1/2 lengths on turf at Louisiana Downs in his most recent start. Eight of his 14 lifetime wins have come on dirt.
