Honeypenny has made her name on the turf. All three of her career wins have come there, though her three dirt efforts weren't bad at all.
Trainer Julio Canani may well have found the spot for her dirt breakthrough in Tuesday's Bangles and Beads at Fairplex Park. The $60,000 stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong race for fillies and mares, lured a field of seven but based on class and current form Honeypenny looks primed, even if this isn't on her favorite footing.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Soaring Free, the North American record-holder for seven furlongs on the grass, will try to master a distance he has yet to conquer in the $1 million at Woodbine on Sunday.
The Grade 1 turf race has one of the weakest fields in its seven-year history, and a strong local contingent could keep a large portion of the purse north of the border.
There are two excellent supporting features on the 11-race card, the Grade 2 Summer Stakes for 2-year-olds, and the Grade 2 Canadian Handicap for fillies and mares.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sightseek has been the odds-on favorite in several races that she lost, including her last start in the Go for Wand, but on Sunday she should not be beaten.
Sightseek, undefeated in four starts at Belmont Park, will be a very short-priced favorite against four overmatched rivals in the Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap.
The Ruffian is part of an NTRA National Pick 4 with a guaranteed pool of $400,000, which also includes the Matron and Futurity at Belmont and the Atto Mile at Woodbine. All four races will be televised live on ABC between 4 and 6 p.m. Eastern.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - All this time, and still no one can really define a one-turn mile. Is it an extended sprint? Or is it a shortened route?
It is a question worth asking closing day at Arlington, where two one-turn miles, the Arlington-Washington Lassie, and the Arlington-Washington Breeders' Cup Futurity, share top billing. The $200,000 Futurity could boil down to Rocky River, a natural sprinter trying to carry his speed a mile, and Three Hour Nap, a long-striding route horse who, his trainer believes, is just getting warmed up after a mile.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Sense of Style's status as the best juvenile filly on the East Coast will be tested in Sunday's Grade 1 Matron at Belmont Park when she meets five intriguing rivals.
Sense of Style has already defeated Graceful Nancy, Summer Raven, and Play With Fire, three of her five challengers in the $300,000 Matron. Sense of Style has not yet faced Darn That Girl or Balletto, and both are upset candidates in the one-mile race.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Bob Baffert believes Fusaichi Rock Star will, in time, be worthy of such a grandiose name. Whether his time will come in Sunday's Grade 2 at Belmont Park remains to be seen.
Fusaichi Rock Star, a son of Wild Wonder, appears to have caught a modest field of juvenile colts in the $300,000 Futurity, a one-turn mile race at Belmont Park.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - If River Downs is the hotbed of 2-year-old filly talent in the Midwest, Runway Model could be the horse for Sunday's Arlington-Washington Lassie. If you are unmoved by Runway Model's near-miss in River's Bassinet Stakes, what about Kota's victory in the Anna Fisher Debutante at Ellis Park?
You get the idea: If these are the race's most accomplished horses, the Lassie looks muddled.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The year was 1968, and Don Von Hemel, ready or not, was detaching himself from the known world. Von Hemel was mired in desolate southwest Kansas, working the same sprawling ranch where his father had labored in Von Hemel's own childhood.
"I had three kids, a horse trailer, and a car, and I owed on all of them," Von Hemel said. "I knew there had to be something better."
ELMONT, N.Y. - There were a few anxious moments for backers of Galloping Grocer, the 1-10 favorite in Friday's third race, when he stumbled leaving the starting gate.
Galloping Grocer, who accounted for $905,654 of the $954,185 wagered in the place pool, quickly recovered and was a 12 1/2-length winner under John Velazquez.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Inish Glora was sent off at 10-1 when she convincingly won last year's Grade 2 Canadian Handicap, the 1 1/8-mile turf race that is one of the supporting features on Atto Mile Day.
But Inish Glora, who went on to win the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion turf filly or mare of 2003, will be the one they're all trying to beat this time around. She will tote high weight of 121 pounds while facing eight other fillies and mares in a Canadian worth $280,500.
