Laurel Park plans to showcase its new turf course during its 78-day fall meet that begins Sept. 7. Overall, there will be 39 stakes worth nearly $3.8 million during the meet.
According to Lou Raffetto, the Maryland Jockey Club's chief operating officer, Laurel expects to schedule four turf races a day through November, taking advantage of the widened turf course that permits the rails to have six different settings.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Wild Desert, who shipped to Saratoga after winning the Queen's Plate on June 26 at Woodbine, will be looking to add the second jewel in Canada's Triple Crown to his collection when he returns for the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie on Sunday.
A field of six was announced for the $500,000 Prince of Wales, a 1 3/16-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, at a special draw here Wednesday afternoon.
Wild Desert drew post 3 in a race where starting position shouldn't be much of a factor.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - As expected, Bound to Be M V P was put on a van and shipped out of Hastings following his easy win in the Ladnesian Stakes on Sunday. The good news is that he was moved to trainer Brian Giesbrecht's farm in Aldergrove, a suburb of Vancouver, and he will return to run in the New Westminster Stakes on Aug. 28.
Before the Ladnesian, Giesbrecht, who trains Bound to Be M V P, said there was a good chance that the talented 2-year-old colt was heading to California after the race.
The field for the $1 million Haskell Invitational, Monmouth Park's premier event, will come into sharper focus following the Grade 3, $150,000 Long Branch Breeders' Cup Stakes on Saturday.
The Long Branch is the traditional prep for 3-year-olds hoping to step up to the Haskell on Aug. 7.
In order to step up, Chekhov must first grow up.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Ola Docura and Ericka's Lass, the one-two finishers in the Canada Stakes here July 1, meet again at Assiniboia in Friday's featured one-mile allowance prep for the Winnipeg Sun Stakes.
The $40,000 Winnipeg Sun, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, will be run July 31.
In the one-mile Canada Day, Ola Docura rallied to overtake Ericka's Lass in late stretch after Ericka's Lass had made the lead with just under a half-mile to race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It may be the year of the rooster according to the Chinese zodiac, but it's the year of the "bug" here at Woodbine.
Heading into Wednesday night's races, with a touch more than one-third of the meeting in the books, apprentice riders Emma Wilson and Corey Fraser are running one-two. Wilson had won 54 races, Fraser 47.
The last apprentice jockey to win a riding title here was Mickey Walls, in 1991. Never have apprentices finished one-two, and never has a woman topped the Woodbine rider standings at year's end.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bob Tiller, one of Woodbine's hotter trainers, will be looking to continue his winning ways Friday when he sends out Versionofthetruth in the feature, a seven-furlong allowance for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.
Versionofthetruth prevailed as a 6-1 overlay when she made her debut against $50,000 maidens at six furlongs June 2. Two weeks later, Tiller ran her in a seven-furlong Ontario-sired allowance, where she finished second after a three-wide trip.
MIAMI - There were several outstanding performances turned in at Calder's $1.9 million Summit of Speed program on Sunday, not the least of which was Madcap Escapade's easy 5 1/4-length victory over the previously undefeated Happy Ticket in the $500,000 Princess Rooney Handicap.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - St. Roch, stakes-placed earlier this year and also last season as a juvenile, returns to action in Friday's allowance feature at Louisiana Downs seeking his third career win. A field of seven will go seven furlongs in the nonwinners-of-two other-than affair on the main track, restricted to Louisiana-breds.
The finals for the D.S. "Shine" Young Futurity on July 30 were set last Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, with the top four finishers from each of the three trials qualifying. The "Shine" will be part of Louisiana Legends Night, a program dedicated to horses bred in Louisiana.
