ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Gold Strike, an impressive winner of the Grade 3 Selene over 1 1/16 miles here May 22, has been made the favorite in a field of 10 for Sunday's $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks.
Gold Strike drew post 6 on Thursday and has been established as Daily Racing Form's 8-5 choice for the Oaks. She is one of five horses in the field trained by Reade Baker, who also will send out Bosskiri, River Nore, Pirouetting, and Whiskey and Low.
CALGARY, Alberta - The $50,000 Duchess of York headlines Saturday's card at Stampede Park, and Vancouver-based trainer Dave Forster saddles two of the four older fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile test.
Forster successfully invaded Alberta three weeks ago to capture both the Teeworth Plate and Ken Pearson Memorial, and his entry of Socorro County and Gold Accent will be heavily favored to keep his local stakes streak alive.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With Regal Red on the sidelines, the older filly and mare division at Hastings is looking for a new leader. Saturday's $40,000 Brighouse Belles could provide a clue as to who is going to step up and take control of the division.
A longtime member of the starting gate crew at Penn National Race Course was killed in an accident on the track during Wednesday night's live racing program.
The worker, identified by Pennsylvania State Police as William Stewart, 46, of Elizabethtown, Pa., died from multiple traumatic injuries sustained in an accident involving the gate shortly after the start of the fourth race.
The last five races on Wednesday's program at Penn National, as well as Thursday evening's entire live racing card, were cancelled.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The $400,000 Manhattan Handicap boasts the highest purse among the supporting stakes on Saturday's Belmont Stakes card, but the race that will generate the most interest outside of the Belmont Stakes is the $200,000 Riva Ridge Breeders' Cup, in which the undefeated Lost in the Fog will try to stretch his winning streak to seven.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Jimmy Jerkens won last year's Hill Prince with Artie Schiller, who is among the top turf horses in the country and the likely favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Manhattan.
In Friday's Grade 3 Hill Prince at Belmont Park, Jerkens has a promising colt in Tinseltown, who will make his graded stakes debut in the 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds.
Belmont's first race goes off at 1 p.m. on Friday, two hours earlier than usual.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The phone started ringing about an hour after Master of Disaster won his maiden by 13 1/4 lengths May 10 at Delaware Park. In another time, trainer Steve Klesaris may have entertained offers to sell the talented 2-year-old colt. This is a different time.
When he was training horses for Marcia and Philip Cohen, Klesaris developed horses such as Booklet and Buckle Down Ben and sold them for big profits after they won at 2. But Klesaris and co-owner Jeffrey Puglisi spent $600,000 on Master of Disaster earlier this year. They are not willing to part with him so fast.
CALGARY, Alberta - A decision to cancel Wednesday's card at Stampede Park because of poor track conditions following several days of rain was made early Tuesday morning and allowed racing secretary Barry McGrath to offer several of the canceled races for Friday's program.
Five of the eight races on the Friday card were made up of rewrites from Wednesday, and not surprisingly most of the returnees boast decent form in off going.
