ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Niigon and A Bit O'Gold, the first two finishers in the 2004 Queen's Plate, will renew their rivalry at the Plate distance of 1 1/4 miles Friday at Woodbine in the Grade 3, $215,800 Dominion Day Handicap.
The supporting feature on the 10-race Canada Day card is the $158,550 Achievement Handicap, a six-furlong sprint for Ontario-foaled 3-year-olds.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With the late defection of local champion Lord Nelson, the Grade 3 $125,000 Lieutenant Governors' on Friday at Hastings appears to be a wide-open affair. A case can be made for 8 of the 10 starters in the 1 1/8-mile race.
It's difficult to predict who will be the favorite, but Blowin in the Wind will certainly have heavy betting support. After all, Blowin in the Wind, a 6-year-old Kentucky-bred, has won three straight stakes races, including the Grade 3 Premiers in his final start of 2004.
EDMONTON, Alberta - A Shaky Start, top weighted at 120 pounds, will seek her second stakes victory of the year when she heads a field of eight fillies and mares in Friday's 6 1/2-furlong Wild Rose Handicap at Northlands Park.
A Shaky Start opened the season by winning the Sales Stakes for older fillies and mares and then finished fourth in the Marc Jenkins Memorial to the invader Stole One, who returns from Vancouver for the Wild Rose.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer John DiMarco last visited Woodbine's infield stakes winner's circle in 1999, after Gallop'n Gold won the Bull Page.
On Friday, DiMarco will be hoping to make a long-overdue return trip when he sends out Gladiator at Home for the Canada Day supporting feature, the $158,550 Achievement Handicap.
The Achievement, a six-furlong race for Ontario-foaled 3-year-olds, drew a field of five.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Melissa Polkey, a Fort Erie regular as of last year, has had a start-and-stop career as a rider.
Polkey, a Mississippi native, was 18 when she launched her career as an apprentice in August 1989.
"There was always one thing or another stopping me from riding," she said. "I never rode a complete season. I didn't lose my bug until '93."
Polkey suffered numerous injuries along the way. Her back was broken twice, and she had fractures of the shoulder, collarbone, and an elbow. Besides all that, she gave birth in 1992, 1993, and 1997.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - A full field of 10 3-year-old fillies will contest the $6,000 Captain Stanley Harrison Handicap on Friday, Canada Day, at Marquis Downs.
The Captain Stanley is run over six furlongs and there are three winners and seven maidens in the field, including one first-time starter.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Ericka's Lass is the one to beat at Assiniboia Downs as she looks for another stakes win in Friday's $40,000 Canada Day for fillies and mares at one mile.
A five-time stakes winner, Ericka's Lass won the six-furlong La Verendrye in her last start here June 12 after receiving a perfect trip along the rail from jockey Rohan Singh.
Ericka's Lass again has drawn post 1, and Singh should be able to give her another ground-saving trip.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Jockey Russell Baze, expected to miss six weeks after breaking his left collarbone in a June 8 spill, will return to action next Wednesday at the Alameda County Fair, less than one month after the accident.
Baze was injured less than a week after his milestone 9,000th victory when Cowboy Badgett suffered a fatal breakdown. The break was in a spot that allowed for speedy healing, aided by a special machine that stimulates bone growth.
Dasha Freda will try for her first stakes victory against a field that includes three Grade 1-caliber Quarter Horses in Friday night's Grade 3, $46,890 Bayer Legend California Derby Challenge at Los Alamitos.
Dasha Freda, fifth in last year's Grade 1 Ed Burke Futurity, has always shown promise for trainer Donna McArthur, but has yet to break through at the stakes level.