SAN MATEO, Calif. - Lightly raced 3-year-old Too Much Pine Tar faces older opponents in Sunday's Bay Meadows feature, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race on the turf that has lured a full field.
Too Much Pine Tar rallied from well off the pace to win his debut at 5 1/2 furlongs as the favorite in a bottom-level $8,000 maiden claimer on June 19. He jumped to $40,000 starter allowance company for his next start, when he was favored again, winning at six furlongs at Solano.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Most of the scuttlebutt this week will center on next Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile on turf for 3-year-olds and upward.
But the Canadian Handicap and the Summer, a pair of Grade 2 turf stakes on the Atto Mile undercard, would stand as features in their own right.
The Canadian, a 1 1/8-mile race worth $300,000, is the division's major local stepping-stone to the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile turf race worth a record $1 million on Oct. 23.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Terry Clyde has reached the top of the trainer standings at Hastings and leads a strong list of female trainers here, including Barb Heads, Cindy Krasner, Toni Jacobson Cloutier, and Janet Armstrong.
Clyde, 43, is on a roll right now, and with 27 wins she is tied with Gary Demorest for the lead in the trainer standings. There is still a lot of racing left, but Clyde is in a good position to become the first woman to earn leading trainer honors at Hastings.
Provided Saint Liam and Commentator both remain in the race, Shaniko will be scratched from Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Shaniko would then be pointed to the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park on Sept. 17.
"In order for him to win [the Woodward], he's got to step forward," Pletcher said of Shaniko, who has yet to win a stakes race. "We'd rather take a shot at winning a stake as opposed to being Grade 1 placed."
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. felt Commentator stole last month's Whitney Handicap from Saint Liam by being able to get loose on the lead early and having enough energy left to hold on by a neck.
Saturday, when Commentator and the Dutrow-trained Saint Liam renew acquaintances in the $500,000 , Dutrow will try to make things harder for Commentator by putting in a pacemaker, or rabbit, to prohibit Commentator from getting clear again.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Better Talk Now had a little help from a friend in winning the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes this summer at Monmouth Park.
Trainer H. Graham Motion employed Shake the Bank as a rabbit to set the stage for Better Talk Now's rally.
Better Talk Now and Shake the Bank are back together again and will try to double-team nine rivals in the Grade 1, $500,000 Man o' War Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Eric Kruljac has a theory on why Leave Me Alone handles coast-to-coast flights with ease.
"She loves to fly," the trainer said. "She must be reincarnated from a stewardess."
Leave Me Alone flew in from California on Monday for the latest assignment: the Grade 1, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Belmont Park.
It is her second round-trip to New York in a month. She flew in for a 7 3/4-length romp in the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga at seven furlongs.
faces four rivals in the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Luas Line came to North America from Ireland two months ago, she faced several of the best 3-year-old grass fillies in the world in the American Oaks at Hollywood Park. That she finished fourth behind Japanese sensation Cesario and ahead of eight others was deemed a success.
After heading back to Ireland, where she beat males in a pair of listed stakes 20 days apart, Luas Line returns to North America to face a seemingly modest group in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Garden City Breeders' Cup Handicap at Belmont Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainers Richard Dutrow Jr. and Nick Zito will not be limited in their battles this weekend to just Saturday's $500,000 Woodward Stakes. Dutrow and Zito will have at each other again on Sunday when Dutrow sends out Silver Train against Zito's High Fly in the $150,000 Jerome Handicap.
Zito and Dutrow send out 5 of the 6 runners in Saturday's Woodward Stakes, including favorites Saint Liam (Dutrow) and Commentator (Zito).
FLORENCE, Ky. - The fact that Revolutionary Act is 4 for 4 in her lifetime at Turfway Park and 1 for 11 elsewhere is not sufficient reason to call her the horse to beat Saturday in the $75,000 Weekend Delight Stakes at Turfway.
After all, Turfway has made a highly publicized switch to a synthetic Polytrack racing surface since Revolutionary Act won her most recent start there, the Queen Stakes last March, and using data that was compiled over the former dirt surface would seem rather pointless.
