How do minor stakes in Germany and France compare to a six-figure but ungraded turf stakes in America?
The answer is the key to unlocking the puzzle that could point out the winner in Saturday's $150,000 Martha Washington Breeders' Cup, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for 3-year-old fillies at Laurel Park.
New York-based trainer Christophe Clement has European import Croisiere set to make her North American debut. Clement has hit with 8 of 29 starters making their American debuts the past two seasons.
Love Locket, the only winner around two turns in a group of seven 2-year-old fillies, is the obvious horse to beat in the $55,000 Irish Sonnet, a one-mile overnight stakes at Delaware Park.
Making her second career start earlier this month at Monmouth Park, Love Locket was able to engage in a duel for the lead that lasted six furlongs and still have enough energy to draw clear by two lengths. Trained by Todd Pletcher, she will be ridden for the first time by Ramon Dominguez.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Circumstances have conspired against Coastal Fortress thus far this year, as she got off to a late start and now has finished second in three consecutive outings.
On Saturday, Coastal Fortress will face six other 3-year-old fillies in the 1 1/16-mile La Lorgnette at Woodbine and could finally get lucky for her trainer, Barbara Minshall.
"She's really coming around," Minshall said. "I think she's improving every race. I'm looking for her to have a peak effort."
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Oh Mar, the holder of the five-furlong turf course record at Fort Erie, is through with racing.
After finishing seventh and last in the fourth race Monday, a $5,000 claimer, Oh Mar, a 9-year-old gelding, was vanned from the track.
"It was a new problem, something he never had before," trainer Campbell Wilson said. "He's okay. He'll be a riding horse. Maybe even a stable pony one day."
Wilson bought Oh Mar privately for $3,000 four years ago at Oaklawn Park when the runner was a little past his prime.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Raylene, Alberta's horse of the year in 2003, makes her Assiniboia Downs debut in Saturday's Matron Breeders' Cup for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and upward.
The Matron Breeders' Cup, run at 1 1/8 miles, carries a guaranteed purse of $40,000, with an additional $25,000 available to the four Breeders' Cup-eligible horses: Raylene, J D's Deelites, Lt. Regent, and Ice Girl.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - This weekend may look to be a lull before next Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby, but don't tell that to the participants in this Saturday's Razorback and Lady Razorback futurities. This year's editions, for 2-year-olds bred in Arkansas, are among the strongest in the 12-year history of the events.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A field of nine 3-year-olds entered Friday's $65,000 Subordination Stakes, and it's anyone's guess which one the crowd will make the favorite.
Scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf course, the Subordination is restricted to nonwinners of a stakes race on the grass, and it is wide open.
Trip handicappers are likely to be torn between Fishy Advice and Reel Legend.
POMONA, Calif. - The ambiguity surrounding the $100,000 Las Madrinas Handicap on Friday at Fairplex Park begins with 121-pound highweight Pickle.
is a graded stakes winner on turf, running on dirt in the Las Madrinas. "She works on dirt all the time," trainer Sandy Shulman said, while admitting that "working is not running."
Allswellthatnswell is a sprint stakes winner, running in a three-turn, 1 1/16-mile and a sixteenth route in the Las Madrinas. "If the pace is realistic, maybe she can keep running," trainer Don Warren said.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wonder Where Stakes winner Silver Highlight will clash with the promising Irish-bred filly Stunning Rose in Friday's superb Woodbine feature, a 1 3/8-mile allowance on the grass.
After shipping here from England, Silver Highlight won her maiden July 31 in 1 1/4-mile Wonder Where, the third leg of the Canadian triple tiara. Invitational, the Wonder Where runner-up, came back for a five-length victory in allowance company, and the eighth-place finisher in that restricted race, Whiskey and Low, subsequently won the Eternal Search Stakes.
