EDMONTON, Alberta - Dale Greenwood saddles Bear Character and Bear Trieste, a powerful pair of Kentucky-breds, in Friday's $50,000 Edmonton Juvenile at Northlands Park.
The six-furlong Juvenile is the first stakes of the meeting for 2-year-olds, and it has drawn a field of eight, with six betting interests. All will carry 118 pounds.
Bear Character and Bear Trieste both are owned by Bear Stable and each is coming off a sharp victory.
AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Tim McCanna admitted he was taking an edge when he entered the speedy Pool Boy for a $20,000 tag July 1. Just how big an edge he was taking may become evident Friday, when Pool Boy challenges seven other older sprinters in a $40,000 to $30,000 optional claiming race at six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The upbeat spirit that is usually associated with the opening of Saratoga was sorely lacking on the backside Wednesday when horsemen protested the conditions in the raceday security barns.
The security barns, to which all horses must report a minimum of six hours before race time, are intended to curb the administration of banned medication. They are on the backstretch by the far turn of Saratoga's main track. Two regular barns that house a total of 30 horses are being used in addition to three set up under tents, which house an additional 80 horses.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Dale Romans didn't necessarily want to bring defending turf champion Kitten's Joy with him to Saratoga this summer, but he had no choice. Romans said that Churchill Downs officials denied him the chance to work Kitten's Joy on Churchill's turf course after that meet had ended, even though Churchill owns Arlington Park, where Kitten's Joy will run next in the Arlington Million on Aug. 13.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Storm Wolf has risen from a maiden race winner to a graded stakes winner so quickly that he is somewhat hard to assess for Saturday's $300,000 Bing Crosby Handicap at Del Mar.
Is he a future sprint star whose three consecutive wins by a combined 20 1/2 lengths are a reflection of things to come? Or, is he a colt who has been expertly placed to take advantage of weak competition among California's 3-year-old sprinters?
The answer will come in Saturday's Grade 1 Bing Crosby at six furlongs.
MIAMI - Trainer Bill Cesare had hoped to spend much of the summer barnstorming the country with handicap star Second of June. Unfortunately for Cesare, a former NFL player, those plans went awry in early May after Second of June came down with an osselet in his left hind ankle shortly before his scheduled start in the Grade 1 Pimlico Special.
So now Cesare must be content with smaller victories, like the one he scored here Tuesday with Weoka in a $26,000 allowance race, while biding his time until Second of June returns to action later this year.
Fairmount Park stewards recommended in a ruling last Saturday that leading jockey Ramsey Zimmerman have his 2005 jockey's license revoked, as a result of a positive July 16 test for methadone, a banned substance commonly used to treat heroin addiction.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Royal Saint, who has made great progress since coming under the care of leading trainer Cole Norman, will attempt to take another step through his conditions in Friday's third-level allowance headliner. The race will be run at a mile and 70 yards and drew a field of 10.
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - The best thing about Puff of Smoke's debut was that trainer Greg Gilchrist was in Florida and didn't see the race.
Breaking from the rail as the 3-5 favorite in a $25,000 maiden claimer at Pleasanton on July 6, Puff of Smoke was bothered at the start and ending up clipping heels and falling.
He returns Friday at the Sonoma County Fair in a $32,000 maiden claimer against five rival 2-year-olds.
Gilchrist has been careful in bringing Puff of Smoke back to the races.