Hesluckytoo is a tepid selection facing nine other 2-year-olds, all in search of their first career stakes score, in the $60,000 Iowa Stallion Futurity at Prairie Meadows.
Hesluckytoo was one of the most impressive maiden winners during the Thoroughbred meeting here. He dueled to midstretch before drawing clear for a two-length debut victory going five furlongs on May 30 for trainer Larry Hunt.
Waupaca's tour of the region will continue when he ships from his Oklahoma City base to San Antonio for the $50,000 Retama Park Turf Breeders' Cup Handicap. Already this summer, Waupaca has won stakes at Lone Star Park and Louisiana Downs.
On the strength of those wins, he will start as the 121-pound highweight in the Retama, a 1 1/16-mile race on turf. Waupaca will be spotting his rivals between five and seven pounds and will break from the outside post in the field of six.
Saturday invariably is a stakes day during the Ellis Park meet, but this Saturday provides a rare exception. In large part because the Henderson, Ky., track has set aside Aug. 20 as the richest stakes day in its history, the rather modest highlight on an 11-race card is an overnight handicap with a $29,750 purse.
The speedy What About David faces off against 10-year-old High Dice for the sixth time this year, as the pair headline a strong field of six Nebraska-breds in the $15,000-added Amadevil Handicap at six furlongs.
High Dice is the elder statesman of the Nebraska-bred ranks. A homebred trained by Herb Riecken, High Dice has posted a career mark of 20-14-13 from 68 starts for more than $318,000 in earnings and has won his last pair of stakes outings.
There are at least two reasons to think that Eclipse Winner should win the Bay Meadows Fair feature on Saturday, a two-other-than allowance at a mile on the turf with a $50,000 claiming option. Eclipse Winner won the last time she raced on the Bay Meadows turf and she drops in class after finishing fifth in the Luther Burbank at Santa Rosa July 30.
Seven fillies and mares from some of the East's leading trainers are scheduled to gather at Suffolk Downs on Saturday for the $50,000 My Fair Lady Breeders' Cup, including a runner from reigning Eclipse Award champion Todd Pletcher.
Suffolk officials, fans, and bettors need to watch the weather, because ground conditions will determine how many of the out-of-towners make their way to Boston for the mile and 70-yard turf race.
MIAMI - The Florida Stallion Stakes, which has headlined the Calder stakes schedule for the last 24 years, kicks off Saturday with the $75,000 Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen divisions at six furlongs. The six-race Stallion series also includes the $125,000 Affirmed and Susan's Girl stakes and the $400,000 In Reality and My Dear Girl stakes. The In Reality and My Dear Girl highlight the track's showcase event, the Festival of the Sun, on Oct. 15.
The three most likely winners of the $55,000 Polly's Jet for 3-year-old fillies going a mile at Delaware Park on Saturday - Redaspen, All Platinum, and Ebony Star - all come with a question mark.
Redaspen is a budding cash cow, with a record of 3 wins, 3 seconds, and 3 thirds in 9 starts, for earnings of $93,303. She also is ridden by high-percentage jockey Victor Molina. Redaspen, though, is stepping up from Pennsylvania statebred races in her last three starts to open company here, a significant leap.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Recent stakes winners Paltu and Premier Dance top a field of eight 2-year-olds in Saturday's $50,000 Minstrel Stakes at Louisiana Downs.
Paltu, from the always powerful Steve Asmussen stable, and Premier Dance, trained by Cody Autrey, both won stakes last month at Lone Star Park. Unlike the other six juveniles in the six-furlong Minstrel, however, Paltu and Premier Dance have never raced at Louisiana Downs.
