TORONTO, Ontario - The $500,000 Prince of Wales and the $250,000 Labatt Bison City remain the showpieces of the Fort Erie meeting, but the stakes schedule for 2005 has a different look than in past years.
Fort Erie ran an abbreviated 81-day meet last year, closing on Labor Day to accommodate installing a new main-track surface, but the meet will run 108 days this year, from May 1 through Oct. 31.
Colonial Downs in Virginia has increased the Virginia Derby purse from $500,000 to $750,000, and has raised the purse of a new turf stakes, the Colonial Turf Cup, to $500,000, according to the track.
The purse increases were approved by the Virginia Racing Commission at a meeting Wednesday. The commission also approved a 40-day meet for Colonial Downs, from June 24 to Aug. 16, on a Friday-through-Tuesday schedule.
The Colonial Turf Cup was added to the track's stakes schedule earlier this year, but its purse was initially set at $250,000.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Ryan Morris was taken to the San Mateo Medical Center for X-rays after falling from Colors of the Wind when he stumbled on the turn in a six-furlong $8,000 maiden-claiming race at Bay Meadows on Thursday.
Morris, who suffered bruising on his back, was to be X-rayed for possible rib and back injuries.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Saturday's 1 1/16-mile McFadden Memorial will give Oregon-bred 3-year-olds their first chance to run beyond a mile at Portland Meadows. This is an opportunity that trainer Eulia Bischoff has been eagerly awaiting.
Bischoff will saddle Truth Buster for the McFadden, and she feels the added distance is just what he needs. In two prior routes, both at a mile, Truth Buster scored his maiden victory and finished fourth, beaten only two lengths by Wice O Kat, in the $43,000 Os West Oregon Futurity.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - A recent maiden winner and the only stakes winner in the field could be interesting plays in Saturday's $55,000-added Burlingame Stakes at Bay Meadows, but they won't be favored.
won her maiden in her first start for trainer Doug O'Neill after a private purchase. Tense Wager, who has won 2 of 4 starts here, captured the low-rated Courtship Stakes here last fall.
They will offer value in the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies.
The day after Private Horde easily won the Feb. 4 Forego Stakes at Turfway Park, trainer Joe Cain said he was inclined to wait until April to run his stable star again.
But less than two weeks later, Cain was having a difficult time keeping from trying to do too much. Stabled on Cain's farm in the southern Kentucky town of Russell Springs, Private Horde, Cain said, "has been training as good as he ever has."
Leaving on My Mind tore up the track last year by winning four stakes, with two of his most impressive wins coming at one mile. He will make his 3-year-old debut Saturday night at a mile in the $125,000 colts and geldings division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.
The stakes, which is restricted to the offspring of nominated stallions, is one of two on the card, with the $125,000 fillies division being led by Timber Jones and Tuned In for leading trainer Steve Asmussen.
If he could read, Believe Im Special would love the setup he will be getting Saturday night in the $40,000 Owner's Appreciation Sprint at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.
There is no shortage of speed in the five-furlong race, and a hot pace would play right into Believe Im Special. He will face six others in the Owner's Appreciation, including the quick Test of Time, who drew the rail and will add blinkers, and front-runner Honey Hit.
The race is restricted to 4-year-olds and upward who have started in an overnight race during the current meet at Delta.
Tonight Rainbow will try to defend his title in the $10,000-added Grasmick Handicap on Saturday, when he heads a field of eight entered in the half-mile dash.
Tonight Rainbow was voted the top sprinter and top older horse of the season last year on the strength of his Grasmick win and third-place finishes in the Budweiser/Tondi Handicap and the Bosselman Gus Fonner Stakes.