WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A field of 11 has been entered for Monday's $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby, the biggest race of the Assiniboia Downs meeting. Three other stakes are also carded on the eight-race program.
Wayzata Bay, Stormy Business, and Prime Time T.V. are the main contenders in the derby, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.
Wayzata Bay had a two-race win streak stopped when finishing fourth, beaten 3 3/4 lengths, in the $250,000 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows on July 1.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Three $40,000 stakes - the Winnipeg Futurity, Jack Hardy, and Wheat City - highlight the Manitoba Derby undercard.
The combination of the K 5 Stables Inc. and trainer Wendy Kruger will send out two of the five 2-year-olds entered in the six-furlong Winnipeg Futurity.
Kruger will saddle the filly Cat Rush, who won the Debutante Stakes at first asking by 4 1/2 lengths over Hey Hey Renee on July 17, and the colt Gone Wild, who was well-beaten in his only start on July 15.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Sunday's six-furlong, $50,000-added Ernest Finley Handicap at the Sonoma County Fair will be a drag race.
Flying Supercon, who drew the rail, Trickey Trevor, from post 2, and El Dorado Shooter, from post 6, will all be gunning early, and each can get the opening quarter-mile in less than 22 seconds.
Bonfante, who drew post 7, could be the beneficiary. He, too, is capable of a sub-22-second opening quarter, but he makes his move in the second quarter, where he is capable of running another sub-22 split, or very close to it.
Bettors searching for a winner in the $40,000 Tah Dah Stakes at River Downs might, at first glance, think the race sets up for a closer based on an abundance of early speed.
Upon further inspection, though, Lillians Choice appears to be the speed of the speed, and she may be the one to fear most in the Tah Dah, for Ohio-bred 2-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The favorite is vulnerable in the Grade 1 on Sunday at Del Mar. This revelation is hardly news to anyone familiar with the impressive career of Pico Central.
Among the elite sprinters last year, Pico Central is racing Sunday for the first time since a fourth-place finish in March in Dubai. And guess what? The 6-year-old is rusty.
"I know that he needs a race," trainer Paulo Lobo said. "He can win on Sunday, but if he runs well, I'm going to be very, very happy."
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Over the last two years, Ashado and Society Selection have dominated the important races for females at Saratoga. At 2, Ashado won the Schuylerville and Spinaway. At 3, Society Selection won the Test and Alabama.
Sunday, these two 4-year-old fillies will delve into another important race here when the two head a five-horse field in the Grade 1, $250,000 Go for Wand Handicap at nine furlongs.
Afleet Alex was resting comfortably at his Belmont Park base on Friday, the day after it was announced he would miss both the Haskell Invitational and Travers Stakes with a hairline condylar fracture to his left front cannon bone. His connections said a fall comeback has not been ruled out for the colt, who won this year's Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
The injury, near the bottom of the cannon bone, was detected Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Afleet Alex had a screw placed across the fracture in a 35-minute procedure at New Jersey Equine Clinic in Clarksburg, N.J.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The field for the $1 million Haskell Invitational looked like a small gathering when Afleet Alex loomed a very solid favorite for Monmouth Park's premier event Aug. 7. But after a hairline fracture sidelined Afleet Alex this week, the Haskell has been put back in play for trainers who had declined invitations.
A field that figured to be four or five runners with Afleet Alex in the lineup could grow to eight or more without him. Before the Afleet Alex defection, Roman Ruler, Chekhov, and Park Avenue Ball were the only horses solidly committed to the race.
Todd Pletcher appears more than ready to make a run at another Saratoga record.
Two years ago, Pletcher won a record 35 races at the Spa and equaled that mark last summer. After winning with five consecutive starters over the last two days, Pletcher has six winners at the meet, two more than he had after three days last year.
