ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The aptly named Big Cheque should be favored to take the winner's share of the $67,900 purse in Friday's Woodbine feature, a $100,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares.
Big Cheque, a stocky chestnut trained by Abraham Katryan for Bruno Schickedanz, won 5 of 7 starts in 2003, but is winless in seven outings this year. She commenced her current campaign at Gulfstream, where she finished fourth in a pair of $100,000 optional claimers late in the winter.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Stakes winners Americas Pride and Kya Jo face off in Friday's $8,000 Oregon HBPA Invitational Handicap, a six-furlong test for Oregon-bred 3-year-old fillies that has drawn a field of eight.
Americas Pride will tote high weight of 121 pounds on the strength of her record of 5 wins from 19 starts and $74,355 in earnings. Americas Pride, a daughter of Baquero who races for Margaret Root and Vogt Stables, won two stakes as a juvenile. She won the 6 1/2-furlong Knights Choice Stallion Stakes at Emerald Downs and the six-furlong Bill Wineberg Stakes over this track.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Balletto, the Grade 1-winning 2-year-old filly who finished second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, will spend the winter in Dubai, trainer Tom Albertrani confirmed on Wednesday.
Balletto will be transferred to trainer Saeed bin Suroor and run in the blue silks of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin Racing Inc. In North America, Balletto ran under Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud banner. One of Balletto's early-season objectives is likely to be the $250,000 UAE Oaks, run March 10 at Nad al Sheba.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Better Talk Now, the upset winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf at Lone Star Park on Oct. 30, will be pointed for the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup on Dec. 4, trainer Graham Motion said Wednesday.
Better Talk Now was also being considered for the Japan Cup in Tokyo on Nov. 28.
Owned by Bushwood Racing Partners, Better Talk Now was the 27-1 longest shot in a field of eight in the BC Turf. He finished 1 3/4 lengths in front of odds-on favorite Kitten's Joy, who was considered the top turf horse in the U.S.
Santa Anita has essentially swapped the dates of two major 3-year-old stakes for the track's upcoming winter-spring meeting, which runs from Dec. 26 to April 18. Overall, 60 stakes have been scheduled.
The Grade 2 San Rafael Stakes over a mile has been moved from early March to Jan. 15. The purse has been cut $50,000, to $150,000. Conversely, the Grade 2 Santa Catalina Stakes over 1 1/16 miles has been moved from January to March 5. The purse has been increased $50,000, to $200,000.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Fantasticat, the Super Derby winner who was ninth in the Breeders' Cup Classic in his last start, could make his next start in the Grade 2 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs after working a half-mile Wednesday in 49.20 seconds.
Trainer Bobby Barnett said Fantasticat popped a quarter crack in the Breeders' Cup but has been training well since the crack was patched.
"We'll see how he does when he goes back to the track in a couple of days," said Barnett.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Sam-Son Farm barn will be closed for business for the balance of this year's Woodbine meeting.
On Wednesday morning there were just three horses left on the spacious Sam-Son shed row, and they soon will be heading to the outfit's farm in Florida.
Another 16 horses have left for the Fair Grounds, where trainer Mark Frostad has maintained a Sam-Son division at eight previous meetings.
This year's Fair Grounds session begins next Thursday, and Frostad expects to have 22 horses there.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainer Jonathan Nance was both disappointed and puzzled by Cascadiansasquatch's debut effort, a distant second to Eighty Eighty in the six-furlong OTBA Sales Stakes on Oct. 30.
But he wasn't discouraged. Nance was more than willing to let Cascadiansasquatch have another crack at Eighty Eighty in Saturday's $19,280 Bill Wineberg Stakes at six furlongs, and his persistence was rewarded.
MIAMI - Any local owner who has a fondness for horses with some back class and an extra $40,000 to toss around might think about doing some business at the claim box in Friday's ninth race at Calder, an optional claiming race that carries a purse of $28,000.
Quintons Gold Rush, who won the Grade 2 Lexington in April, will arrive at Remington Park on Friday for the Grade 3, $150,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday. He will van in from Churchill Downs and will be ridden by Cliff Berry, said Steve Asmussen, who trains the colt for Padua Stables and Jay Manoogian.
