The chance to race in a stakes at five furlongs on turf has drawn shippers from Kentucky, Illinois, and Louisiana to Texas on Saturday for the $50,000 Wild Flower Stakes at Lone Star Park.
Nicole's Dream, who won the $100,000 Mamzelle at Churchill Downs in April, invades from her base of Arlington Park. Stakes winners Anna Em and Even the Score are in town from Kentucky, while Leslie's Love, a winner of 22 races, leads a handful of invaders from Louisiana.
Trainer Donnie Von Hemel could sweep both divisions of the Arkansas-bred stakes for 2-year-olds on Saturday at Louisiana Downs. Von Hemel has the probable favorite in the $40,000 Razorback in Leon's Best, while top contender Doll and a Half will represent him in the race's filly counterpart, the $40,000 Lady Razorback.
Both races will be run at six furlongs, and they are among the handful of stakes Louisiana Downs has hosted for neighboring statebred programs. Through the years, the track has also offered stakes for horses bred in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama.
MIAMI - The $400,000 In Reality and My Dear Girl divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes may be the richest races on the Oct. 23 Festival of the Sun program. But for sheer star power, the $200,000 Calder Derby and its filly counterpart, the $200,000 Calder Oaks, will be the best of the eight stakes races on the card.
Among the marquee names pointing for the Grade 3 Calder Derby is Eddington, who was headquartered in south Florida with trainer Mark Hennig's stable earlier this year and now will return to make his turf debut.
A pair of New York-based turf runners who have been competitive against Grade 1- and Grade 2-caliber horses tower over the competition in Saturday's $200,000 Caesar Rodney Handicap at Delaware Park.
King's Drama, a Bobby Frankel-trained 4-year-old who most recently finished third in the Grade 1 Man o' War at Belmont, and B.A. Way, third despite a troubled start last time out in the Grade 2 Belmont Breeders' Cup Handicap, are by far the classiest horses in the 1 1/8-mile Caesar Rodney.
PHOENIX - So far it's been a walk in the park for juvenile colt Power Wave, but things figure to get tougher in Saturday's colts and geldings division of the $35,000 ATBA Fall Sales Stakes. Meanwhile, Lady Bertrando looks to validate her romping maiden win here a few weeks ago in the filly division. Both Arizona Thoroughbred Breeders Association stakes are at six furlongs, with the fillies in race 7 and the males in race 8 on the nine-race program.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The improving Rousing Victory doesn't figure to offer the value he has in his last three starts, but he's hard not to like at any price in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Lawrence Realization.
A field of eight 3-year-olds was entered for the 1 1/2-mile race, scheduled for Belmont Park's Widener Turf Course. Two more horses were entered to run if the race is moved to the main track.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Commentator was an impressive winner, and Nick Zito was a gracious one.
Zito, who was the trainer of Eurosilver when the colt blossomed into a major contender for the 2004 Kentucky Derby last winter, sent out Commentator to a seven-length triumph over Eurosilver in the $112,600 Perryville Stakes at Keeneland on Thursday.
Churchill Downs Inc., which will close on a deal to acquire Fair Grounds Race Course either late Thursday or Friday, has announced a revamped stakes schedule for the upcoming season, one that will bring several new mega-stakes days to the track and position the Louisiana Derby as a more important Kentucky Derby prep race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mobil, Woodbine's top older male on the dirt, heads a five-horse field in Saturday's $159,450 Durham Cup Handicap.
Mobil has stuck to the grass with mixed success since winning his last main-track outing by nearly 13 lengths, in the Grade 3 Dominion Day Handicap on July 1. He narrowly lost the Grade 2 Chinese Cultural Centre Stakes on July 25, and then finished well back after a wide trip in the Grade 1 Arlington Million.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Traditionally, 3-year-old fillies have performed well in the Grade 3, $150,000 Breeders' Cup Ballerina, which goes as the eighth race at Hastings on Saturday. In fact the previous two renewals have been won by 3-year-olds, Dancewithavixen last year and Grace for You in 2003.
