SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Dale Romans says he doesn't believe he could have Roses in May sufficiently prepared to defend his title in next weekend's Grade 1 Whitney Handicap. The 5-year-old Roses in May certainly appeared ready to do more Thursday after he worked a strong five furlongs in 1:00.02 over Saratoga's main track.

Angel Cordero Jr. was aboard for the work, which was the second fastest of 25 at the distance. Cordero couldn't pull up Roses in May until he neared the half-mile pole on the backside.

AUBURN, Wash. - The Howard Belvoir-trained duo of Courting Seattle and Tusko T. will head a field of nine in Saturday's six-furlong Emerald Express, the first stakes at the meeting for 2-year-old males.

Courting Seattle has won both of his starts. He scored a 5 1/2-length win in his debut, a five-furlong maiden special weight event June 5, before scoring by 2 3/4 lengths in a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - La Belle Fleur goes for her third straight stakes win when she takes on seven other fillies and mares in the $40,000 Lang Michener LLP Matriarch, the feature race at Hastings on Saturday.

La Belle Fleur was a huge overlay at 24-1 when she won the Brighouse Belles over a sloppy track June 11. A Washington-bred, La Belle Fleur proved her win was no fluke when she came right back to beat Victor's Secret in the 1 1/8-mile Senate Appointee on July 2. Victor's Secret will be either the first or second choice in the B.C. Cup Distaff on Monday.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Rindanica, still seeking his first victory of this meet, looks to score a repeat win in Saturday's $50,000 Klondike Handicap at Northlands Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Klondike attracted a field of six. It goes as race seven of an eight-race card that concludes the Klondike Days portion of the Northlands racing schedule.

Rindanica, trained by Riley Rycroft, has drawn the rail and will have a new rider, Quincy Welch.

AUBURN, Wash. - Karis Makaw will shoot for her third straight win when she takes on seven challengers in Saturday's $40,000 Boeing Handicap at Emerald, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares.

Karis Makaw, a 4-year-old daughter of Charismatic trained by Bob Meeking, will be the 120-pound highweight because of her sharp current form. She is coming off a 4 1/4-length score over allowance company in a mile race on June 18 and a three-quarter-length victory over Ruby Dawn in the one-mile King County Handicap on July 3.

The entry of Silver Axe and defending champion Tricky Mocha loom a short price against five rivals in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Handicap.

Silver Axe is the 119-pound starting highweight in the 1 1/8-mile race and the one to beat, based on his last two starts at Prairie Meadows. On May 30, Silver Axe rallied to score a three-quarter-length victory in the Jim Rasmussen Memorial at 1 1/16 miles, recording a career-high 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

When Flip Side finished eighth in an allowance at Beulah Park on Jan. 8, her third consecutive loss by a margin of at least 14 lengths, few observers would have considered her a contender to become the leading 3-year-old filly in Ohio this year.

Nearly seven months later, Flip Side will start in Ohio's richest race for 3-year-old fillies, the $75,000 Queen City Oaks at River Downs, as the solid favorite to defeat nine rivals at 1 1/8 miles.

OPELOUSAS, La. - It's all about Louisiana-breds here Saturday night in the inaugural Louisiana Legends Night. A pair of maiden special weight races bookend eight stakes for horses bred in the Bayou State, with first post at 6:45 p.m.

One highlight of the busy night figures to be the sixth race, the Junius Delahoussaye Memorial Sprint Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong dash that appears to be a shootout between Zarb's Dahar and West Coast invader Majestic Commander.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer William La Vanway will be trying to win his first stakes race when he saddles Devil's Turn in the B.C. Cup Debutante Monday. It will also be the first time La Vanway has ever started a horse in a stakes.

La Vanway, 30, has done very well with his small stable that is made up of mostly lower level claiming horses. He's hoping to get better horses in the future and he knows that if Devil's Turn runs well in the Debutante, it should help further his career.

What better way to celebrate your first Horse of the Year than to win a stakes named in your honor?

Last summer, Quarter Horse owner-breeder Spencer Childers, 93, watched his Be a Bono win the Spencer Childers Championship Handicap at Los Alamitos.

Last month, after Be a Bono won the Vessels Maturity, Childers knew where the gelding would make his next start. "I guess we'll run him in the Spencer Childers," Spencer Childers deadpanned.