AUBURN, Wash. - Charming Colleen will attempt to follow in the footsteps of Favored One and Belle of Rainier when she takes on the boys in Sunday's $100,000 Gottstein Futurity at 1 1/16 miles. The Gottstein is one of eight stakes on Sunday, Washington Cup Day.
Favored One and Belle of Rainier, two of the best fillies ever to run in Washington, won the Gottstein Futurity in 1994 and 1981, respectively.
AUBURN, Wash. - The $50,000 Muckleshoot Tribal Classic on Sunday at Emerald Downs headlines the second annual Washington Cup Day card, seven stakes restricted to Washington-breds.
Also on the 10-race card is the 67th running of the $100,000 Gottstein Futurity, which is open to all 2-year-olds eligible for the Northwest Race Series. In all, $400,000 will be up for grabs in the eight stakes to be contested on Sunday.
The two sides embroiled in a dispute that has resulted in the blackout of the Belmont Park signal in six states on the East Coast have not talked since Tuesday, according to representatives of both sides of the dispute on Friday, and do not plan to resume negotiations.
The signal from Belmont has been shut off in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, and parts of West Virginia since Wednesday because of a dispute over account-wagering and television rights on the racetrack's signal.
Jockeys at Mountaineer Race Track backed away from a threat to boycott Friday's card after meeting with representatives of the Jockeys' Guild for three hours that afternoon, Guild representatives said.
According to the representatives, jockeys at the track were concerned about safety issues and insurance coverage at Mountaineer, a year-round racetrack in West Virginia. The issues came to the forefront after one of the colony's riders, Gary Birzer, was paralyzed in an accident at Mountaineer on July 20.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Strike a Bargain will try to win his turf debut on Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes, one of two supporting stakes on the Atto Mile card. The one-mile Summer for 2-year-olds is worth $277,750.
Strike a Bargain was fourth when he debuted in a six-furlong maiden special July 24. He found seven-eighths more to his liking Aug. 21, when he won in a time of 1:25.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Roger Attfield and owner/breeder Charles Fipke have endured more than their share of trials and tribulations with Perfect Soul this season.
But Perfect Soul, a 6-year-old who will be heading to the breeding shed at the end of his current campaign, still has plenty of time to redeem himself and can take the first step here Sunday in the Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile.
"It's been frustrating," acknowledged Attfield, who has seen Perfect Soul suffer through various physical setbacks and poor racing luck, starting just four times in 2004.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Dave Forster will head into the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Oaks at Hastings next Saturday with a strong hand. It's possible Forster will enter four fillies in the Oaks, but the way that Socorro County won the Oaks Preview, the other three, Gold Accent, Overact, and Summer Symphony, might be running for second money.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Bullseye Bess has earned more than $43,000 while running with the best 3-year-old fillies on the grounds at Hastings this year. She should appreciate the drop into a $50,000 optional race Sunday, and she also figures to get a perfect stalking trip behind a hotly contested pace in the 1 1/16-mile feature.
AUBURN, Wash. - Divisional honors will be on the line when Aunt Sophie and Cascade Corona meet for the fifth time in Sunday's $50,000 Belle Roberts Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. The Belle Roberts is one of eight stakes on Sunday, Washington Cup Day.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Chad Schvaneveldt knew all too well what the signs meant when he was riding at Sacramento the last weekend in August.
The feeling of a knife twisting in his gut meant only one thing: the onset of another attack of pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas.
The 40-year-old jockey has suffered from the disease since a horse fell on him in 1990, lacerating his liver and breaking some blood vessels in his stomach.
"It seems to happen every two to 2 1/2 years," Schvaneveldt had said after his last bout, in December 2002.