Monmouth Park will begin its meet on May 14, 2005, two weeks earlier than the traditional Memorial Day weekend launch.
Monmouth's 90-day schedule was part of the 2005 racing schedule approved by the New Jersey Racing Commission on Thursday.
For the third straight year, Monmouth's season will extend beyond Labor Day, to Sept. 25.
The Meadowlands, which, like Monmouth, is owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, will race 30 days, from Sept. 30 to Nov. 12.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Bob Tiller will be holding a strong hand in Saturday's $136,205 Ontario Fashion at Woodbine if he runs both Winter Garden and Brass in Pocket in the six-furlong handicap for fillies and mares.
Winter Garden, last year's Ontario Fashion winner and the runner-up for Canadian champion 3-year-old filly honors in 2003, has had another lucrative campaign this year, winning 3 of 5 starts.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Seven fillies and mares square off in the feature race at Hastings on Saturday. The $35,000 optional sprint drew stakes winners Ice Girl and Lilsisterlightning, but the tough horse could be April Foolish, who has won three times and finished second once in four sprints at this level during the meet.
PORTLAND, Ore. - A full field of 12 Oregon-bred 2-year-old fillies will vie in Saturday's $19,280 Janet Wineberg Stakes at six furlongs.
Contention runs deep in the Janet Wineberg, but Miss Bliss could be favored off her sharp score over maiden special weight company here on Oct. 23. Miss Bliss, a daughter of Baquero who races for Dave Martin, defeated another Wineberg entrant, Wice O Kat, by three-quarters of a length in 1:05.60 for 5 1/2 furlongs to earn the highest Beyer in the field, a 57.
PORTLAND, Ore. - If Amelia True Heart is favored in Saturday's $19,280 Janet Wineberg Stakes for Oregon-bred 2-year-old fillies at Portland Meadows, it will on the basis of her sensational debut at Emerald Downs on July 25.
In that 5 1/2-furlong race for $16,000 maiden claimers, Amelia True Heart sat just off the early pace, took command on the turn, and drew out to score by nearly 10 lengths in a quick 1:04.40.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Just a few weeks ago, it appeared Dino Condilenios was going to waltz away with his second straight training title at Hastings. Although there is still a very good chance that Condilenios will repeat, a late surge by both Harold Barroby and Barb Heads has turned what was once a foregone conclusion into a real horse race.
Condilenios has won 34 races at the meet and has a clear lead heading into the stretch. But it is possible that Barroby, with 29 wins, and Heads, with 28, could pull off an upset.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Wimplestiltskin, a horse in search of a niche, makes his 10th straight stakes appearance Saturday night in the $60,000 Rushing Man Stakes for 3-year-olds at The Meadowlands Racetrack.
Wimplestiltskin has done it all this year. He tackled Grade 1 colts, and raced on both coasts, on turf and dirt, and at distances ranging from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles.
Through it all, he still hasn't established a preferred distance. Nor has he ever been first under the wire.
CHICAGO - You could imagine the first excuse coming centuries ago somewhere on the sands of the Arabian Peninsula. You could almost imagine one sheikh, the one shaking his head over a disappointing race, saying to another: My horse didn't handle the surface.
Yes, postrace explanation must extend back into time nearly as far as racing itself. But as for Saturday's horse races at Hawthorne, trainer Chris Block is having none of it.
MIAMI - The temperature may still be in the mid-80's in south Florida, but anybody who doubts winter is just around the corner need only look over the starting lineups for the split divisions of Saturday's $40,000 Soft Parade Stakes at Calder.
Of the 24 fillies and mares entered in the Soft Parade, three are from trainer Todd Pletcher and two are from Christophe Clement. Both trainers shipped the first wave of their powerful stables down from New York earlier this month.
Here's all you need to know about Aggadan.
Four months ago, he finished closer to Ghostzapper than 11 of the 12 challengers did in last weekend's Breeders' Cup Classic. That group included such stars as Funny Cide, Birdstone, and Azeri.
After stringing together five consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, Aggadan drops in class to face Maryland-bred company for only the third time in the past year and shortens up substantially in distance for Saturday's $75,000 Challedon Stakes at Pimlico.