ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Soaring Free led an Ontario sweep of the 2004 Atto Mile as runners based in the province took down the top five spots.
But with Soaring Free sidelined after bleeding badly in the recent Play the King Handicap, a new local star will have to emerge if Ontario is to win this year's Sept. 18 renewal of the Grade 1, $1 million turf race for 3-year-olds and up.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Aly's Flyer has her work cut out for her as she looks to win her third race in a row in Sunday's $40,000 Assiniboia Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles at Assiniboia Downs.
Trained by Jared Brown, Aly's Flyer won the Jack Hardy Stakes here two starts ago before taking the Assiniboia Oaks prep on Aug. 19. Both wins were front-end performances over speed-biased racetracks.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Forest Danger began the year as if he were going to develop into one of the top sprinters in the country. But after a dismal showing in the Metropolitan Handicap in May, followed a by summer of inactivity, Forest Danger must prove himself once again.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When trainer Lisa Lewis picked out Church Service for owner Peter Karches at the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale, she really liked what she saw, but was surprised at how much they had to pay.
Church Service cost only $32,000 despite a solid pedigree - he's by Pulpit, whose stud fee is $60,000, and out of 1998 Tropical Park Oaks winner To Be Approved.
"He wasn't really big, but athletic and sound-looking," Lewis said. "I was surprised we bought him for so cheap. I thought maybe we didn't see something that others did."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Nearly everything went wrong for Intercontinental in the Grade 1 John Mabee Handicap on July 23. She was rank early and encountered trouble on the second turn and in the stretch before finishing a close third to the upset winner, Amorama.
Revenge may come for Intercontinental in a lesser race on Saturday, the $200,000 Palomar Breeders' Cup Handicap over 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares at Del Mar.
CHICAGO - Miss Terrible lives like a pampered princess. She is one of only two horses in the care of trainer Brad Ross, a longtime blacksmith, and Ross lavishes attention on her. Miss Terrible trains like a typical racehorse, but her days are punctuated by rolls in a sandpit beside her barn and regular walks around the Arlington Park backstretch.
In fact, the surprising thing early Thursday afternoon was that Miss Terrible was actually in her stall.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The virus that swept through Terri Pompay's barn last week spared Colormein.
"I was a little worried, because 75 percent of my horses were very sick," Pompay said. "They came down with high fevers and coughing. I had about six horses that didn't get sick, and she was one of them."
That could be a positive omen for Colormein in Saturday's $100,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park.
The Sorority, the track's top race for 2-year-old fillies, is the main event of the holiday weekend on the Jersey Shore.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Warm Rain has the highest last-out Beyer Speed Figure on turf in Saturday's $147,000 Ontario Colleen Handicap, an 86 earned in her front-running triumph over older foes in a $62,500 optional claimer. Whether she can duplicate it in a 14-horse field containing lots of speed is a question handicappers must ponder in the Ontario Colleen, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
