ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It has been 28 years since the legendary Seattle Slew was voted the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old for owners Karen and Mickey Taylor.
Saturday at Woodbine, Slew's Saga, a son of Seattle Slew owned by the Taylors, will try to lock up the Sovereign Award for champion 2-year-old in the $250,000 Coronation Futurity.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Eighty Eighty will shoot for a second straight stakes win Saturday, when he heads a field of nine Oregon-bred 2-year-olds in the $19,280 Bill Wineberg Stakes at six furlongs.
A son of Baquero from the Northern Jove matron Northern Defender, Eighty Eighty is coming off a 9 3/4-length win over Cascadiansasquatch in the six furlong OTBA Sales Stakes two weeks ago, when he got the distance in 1:12.80. Before that outing, Eighty Eighty ran sixth in a $20,000 maiden claiming test at Emerald Downs and third in a maiden special weight outing over this track.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Notis Otis puts his undefeated record on the line when he faces five other 2-year-olds in the $75,000 Ascot Graduation on Saturday at Hastings. The 1 1/16-mile feature also drew One Special Hoss, who could go favored off his powerful 6 3/4-length win in a three-turn allowance race Oct. 24.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It is very possible that the two favorites, Notis Otis and One Special Hoss, will hook up early and set it up for a late-runner in the $75,000 Ascot Graduation at Hastings on Saturday. If workouts are any indication, Western Writer could be that horse.
Western Writer followed up his strong win over maidens Oct. 17 with a spectacular five-furlong work in 58.80 seconds Nov. 5. A Florida-bred gelding, Western Writer has improved with each start, and he could be coming up to a peak performance.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Trainer Ben Root has been on a roll in the restricted stakes for 2-year-olds at this meeting.
Root sent out Eighty Eighty for a 9 3/4-length win in the OTBA Sales Stakes at Portland Meadows two weeks ago, then last week he scored an upset in the Janet Wineberg Stakes for 2-year-old Oregon-bred fillies with first-time starter One Fast Cowgirl, who raced as part of a three-horse entry.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - There haven't been many races for 2-year-olds in New England this year, and the $40,000 Amelia Peabody Stakes for Massachusetts-breds will probably decide the state's juvenile championship.
Only three of the seven fillies in the Peabody have won a race and one is a first-time starter. The likely favorite is Papa Dancer, who overcame some skittishness at the starting gate to run away to a wire-to-wire debut score last month. She has since turned in a five-furlong bullet workout from the gate.
Jess a Feature, who has won her last three races, has already defeated five of the nine rivals she will face Saturday in the $436,347 Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders' Association Sales Futurity at Louisiana Downs.
A 400-yard race for 2-year-olds, the LQHBA Futurity is restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.
Jess a Feature won the 350-yard division of the LQHBA Futurity at Evangeline Downs in September, defeating Chicks Salute Me, Special Toast to Gd, A Special Toast, and Jess Cash This, all of whom return Saturday.
Shemoveslikeaghost, who tends to run well fresh, returns from a layoff of more than two months to defend her title in Saturday's $125,000 New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap.
A six-furlong race for fillies and mares, the New Mexico Racing Commission is restricted to horses bred in New Mexico.
Saturday's $100,000 Michael G. Schaefer Mile at Hoosier Park will pose more than a few questions for handicappers when a prospective field of seven takes the track for the meet's only open-company stakes for older horses.
The best-known horses in the field are Freefourinternet, upset winner of the Hawthorne Gold Cup who returns two weeks after finishing last in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and Coach Jimi Lee, who is coming off a money-won allowance victory at Keeneland.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Tensions in the jockey-insurance controversy at Churchill Downs were on display Wednesday when a group of about 10 banned riders walked onto track property to demand the return of their equipment and other personal effects on the first racing day that they were barred from competition.
Churchill personnel ultimately complied, but not before several of the jockeys, led by Shane Sellers, squared off verbally with track security and Louisville Metro Police officers. There were no arrests in the incident,which lasted about 25 minutes.
