VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The eighth race at Hastings, a $35,000 optional claimer, is easily the most intriguing race on the 10-race card. The 6 1/2-furlong race drew six horses, and there is an abundance of speed.
Celt, who is trained by Dino Condilenios, is the quickest of them all, though. He has held the lead at the first and second call in 20 straight sprints, and if anyone tries to keep up with the speedy 6-year-old gelding early, they're likely going to pay the price late.
EDMONTON, Alberta - All four stakes for older fillies and mares offered in Alberta this year have been won by visitors from Hastings, and Stole One will be looking to continue that trend in Saturday's $50,000 John Patrick Memorial. Among her seven opponents in the one-mile race are five Northlands Park-based mares.
AUBURN, Wash. - Strollin Slew is the one to beat in Saturday's best race at Emerald Downs, a six-furlong test for fillies and mares to be run under $25,000 optional claiming conditions.
Strollin Slew, a 5-year-old by Seattle Slew, has impressed in both of her Emerald Downs outings. In her local debut on May 14, she prevailed in a four-way speed duel before yielding late to a perfect-trip winner in a $40,000 optional claiming event at six furlongs. Among those she outdueled that day was Karis Makaw, who has since won two in a row, including the King County Handicap at a mile.
Philadelphia Park has saved its biggest field and perhaps its best betting race for last on a 10-race program Saturday that features six stakes for Pennsylvania-breds worth a collective $300,000.
The Mrs. Penny, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for older fillies and mares, drew 19 entries and will have 14 starters as the finale of Pennsylvania Day at the Races.
The card also includes two other turf stakes - one a sprint and the other a route - a pair of seven-furlong stakes, and a steeplechase event.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Leading rider Joe Bravo fractured his collarbone in a seventh-race spill Thursday at Monmouth Park, according to Dr. Angelo Chinnici, the track's medical director.
"He has a fractured left clavicle," said Chinnici. "He was complaining of shortness of breath, but we were able to rule out a punctured lung, which is common with a clavicle fracture.
"He'll now have X-rays on his upper and lower back and we should know more definitively either later tonight or by the morning."
Maidens rarely are favored in stakes races, but Nolan's Cat probably will defy that trend Saturday at Ellis Park. Despite never having won in six career starts, Nolan's Cat figures to be favored over 10 other 3-year-olds in the $75,000 Regaey Island Stakes at the Henderson, Ky., track.
With Patience is far more accomplished going two turns on turf than she is sprinting. But the few times the 6-year-old With Patience has been asked to shorten up, she has proven capable.
An easy winner going 1 1/16 miles three weeks ago, With Patience will cut back to 5 1/2 furlongs for Saturday's $60,000 Somethingroyal Stakes for Virginia-bred fillies and mares at Colonial Downs.
Out of her 28 lifetime starts, With Patience, owned and trained by Elizabeth Merryman, has sprinted on grass only four times, winning twice and finishing third the other two times.
It's impossible to safely eliminate any of the eight 3-year-old sprinters in the $55,000 Oh Say Stakes at Delaware Park.
In their last three starts, every horse has run at least one Beyer between 87 and 94.
The field's lone stakes winner, Diamond Wildcat, has been a disappointment since taking the Horatius at Laurel Park in March, finishing fourth at even money and 7-2 odds in two sprint stakes.
Pointsman, a Michael Dickinson-trained colt who has won his last two starts, and the Scott Lake entry of Euro Code and Golden Exploit could vie for favoritism.
The $50,000 GTOBA Juvenile Filly Dash at Calder appears to be a rematch between Running Lass and Madison North, third and fourth in the Cassidy Stakes two weeks ago. Except, there's a twist.
The five-furlong race is scheduled for the turf, a surface on which none of the 13 2-year-old fillies entered in the race has run. To make matters even tougher on bettors, neither of the two favorites is particularly bred for the grass.
The biggest handicapping question surrounding Saturday's $40,000-added Fairfield Stakes at the Solano County Fair may be which filly will complete the exacta with Lunachick.
Lunachick appears a prohibitive favorite in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies. Her lowest career Beyer Speed Figure is higher than the highest Beyer of two of her rivals, and her second-lowest Beyer is higher than the highest Beyer of the other four.