ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Reade Baker will be holding a very strong hand Sunday when he sends out five of the 10 Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies in the $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks.

The 50th running of the 1 1/8-mile event heads a quality card that includes two other stakes, the $136,125 Victoria Park and the $111,000 Alywow.

The Oaks is the first leg of the Canadian triple tiara. It will be followed by the July 4 Labatt Bison City Stakes at Fort Erie and the Wonder Where Stakes here July 31. There is no longer a bonus for sweeping the series.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's $136,125 Victoria Park Stakes is the last stakes opportunity on dirt for local 3-year-olds to prep for the June 26 Queen's Plate. Canadian-breds Ablo, Walela, and Stephen's Gift are the only Plate eligibles in the Victoria Park, which is the supporting feature on Labatt Woodbine Oaks Day.

Ablo won the 1 1/8-mile Coronation Futurity at 2 and will negotiate that distance in the Victoria Park. In his most recent outing, he finished fifth going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bob Harvey readily admits that no racing thrill is likely to top that which he experienced with Numerous Times, winner of the $1 million Atto Mile at Woodbine in 2001.

"Numerous Times will always be number one," said Harvey. "What I went through with him . . ."

Harvey, as a principal in Committee Stable, owner of Numerous Times, watched the horse overcome numerous obstacles en route to his Atto Mile triumph, which was his sixth career start without a defeat. He was trained by Sid Attard.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Despite having no stalls at Fort Erie and saddling only five horses at the six-week-old meet, trainer Justin Nixon is in a tie for seventh-place in the standings.

Nixon has sent out four winners and one second-place finisher from five starters here and has pushed his main client, Stronach Stable, to the top of the owner standings. Three of the wins were for Stronach and the other for Nixon's dad, Frederick.

Final Assault finally put it all together at Monmouth Park last summer, wiring both first- and second-level allowance fields before just failing to last as the favorite in an optional claiming race prior to hitting the sidelines for a well-deserved rest. Sunday, Final Assault attempts to get back to her winning ways at Monmouth in the $60,000 Spruce Fir Handicap for fillies and mares at a mile and 70 yards.

By the looks of recent drills, topped off by a bullet five furlongs in 1:00.20 in the slop last Saturday, she's ready to roll. Stewart Elliott gets the call.

The likely absence of heavy favorite Sensibly Chic has turned Sunday's $50,000 Skipat Stakes into a wide-open event.

The six-furlong Skipat, for fillies and mares, serves as the closing day feature at Pimlico. Racing on the Maryland-Virginia circuit shifts to Colonial Downs on Friday.

is cross-entered in Sunday's Grade 2, $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont. Maryland-based rainer Tim Tullock said Friday afternoon that he's leaning strongly toward the New York race.

Based on his performance in last Sunday's Nick Shuk Memorial Stakes at Delaware Park, the 3-year-old Mighty Mecke will be pointed to one of several graded stakes in early July.

According to trainer Steve Klesaris, he is considering the Grade 3 Iowa Derby at Prairie Meadows on July 1, the Grade 2 Ohio Derby at Thistledown on July 2, and the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park on July 4 for Mighty Mecke's next start. Klesaris is also taking a look at the Grade 3 Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware on July 17.

AUBURN, Wash. - Only five 3-year-old fillies will line up against Queenledo in Sunday's Irish Day Handicap, and if she wins that one-mile test in the same fashion that she won the last two stakes for the division, there will be even fewer willing to take her on in the future.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With less than three weeks until the first major race on the Hastings schedule, the Grade 3, $125,000 Lieutenant Governors' on July 1, perennial powerhouse Lord Nelson is looking tough again but could face a challenge from a horse half his age, the 4-year-old Quiet Cash.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The temperature is expected to approach 90 degrees. The race is run one around one turn. These are not a few of Funny Cide's favorite things.

Still, it is June 11 and Funny Cide, the champion 3-year-old of 2003, has run just once in 224 days. Trainer Barclay Tagg said that despite the forecasted heat Funny Cide will run in Saturday's Grade 2, $250,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park. While Funny Cide will most likely be favored against eight rivals, he is no cinch.