ALTOONA, Iowa - Casual Attitude ships in from Chicago to take on local star Sharky's Review and four other fillies and mares in Saturday's $40,000 Central Iowa Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Trained by Steve Hobby, Casual Attitude most recently finished second in the $50,000 Mariah's Storm at Arlington Park on Aug. 13. Casual Attitude shortens from the 1 1/8 miles of the Mariah's Storm to the 1 1/16 miles of the Central Iowa and figures to stalk the early pace under jockey Tim Doocy.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Saturday's $100,000 California Sprint Championship at Bay Meadows offers an unusual question for handicappers.
Five Cal-breds will compete in the six-furlong sprint, and the question handicappers must answer is who will be on the lead.
The battles for the lead in races such as this are usually heated, with several runners wanting to set the pace. On Saturday, no one really seems to want the lead early.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Saturday's $40,000 R.J. Speers Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-olds and upward looks like it should be one of the best races of the year.
Trainer Carl Anderson sends out Deputy Country and Indy Lead, who will race as separate betting interests.
Deputy Country, second in this race last year, won three stakes in a row at Northlands Park in Alberta before a poor performance in the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs in Washington on Aug. 22. Ken Hendricks picks up the mount.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The unbeaten La Trillium will try to take her game to the next level in Saturday's Grade 3, $136,500 Seaway Stakes at Woodbine.
The seven-furlong dash for fillies and mares has lured a first-rate field of seven, including two imposing Bob Tiller-trained runners, Winter Garden and Brass in Pocket.
La Trillium, a late-developing 4-year-old by Deputy Commander, has made each of her three starts at seven furlongs. She didn't debut until June 19, when she won a maiden special weight event by 11 1/2 lengths while earning an impressive 99 Beyer Figure.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Had fate decreed otherwise, El Prado Essence could be carrying a foal by Mr. Greeley, enjoying the bucolic life of a broodmare on the farm in Kentucky.
Instead, El Prado Essence will be in the heat of competition here Saturday, when she makes just her second start of the year in the $136,500 Seaway Stakes.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - A pair of Alberta invaders headline Saturday's $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby, the seventh of eight races on the last card of the meet.
Cool Lad and Noble Dane should vie for favoritism when they go off in the 1 1/16-mile feature against four Saskatoon-based 3-year olds.
Cool Lad has been competitive in allowance races in Alberta this year, and his connections even tried him in the $100,000 Alberta Derby in June. He finished seventh.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Rules of War stamped himself as a legitimate British Columbia Derby candidate with a solid win in the 1 1/16-mile Richmond Derby Trial last Monday at Hastings.
A California-bred gelding trained by Rob Gilker, Rules of War will head into the $250,000 B.C. Derby on Sept. 26 off two straight wins. The way Rules of War was drawing away from his rivals in the Trial, he shouldn't have any trouble negotiating the 1 1/8-mile derby distance.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Declan's Moon needed to raise his game in order to beat the fastest gun in the West, and he did so on Wednesday at Del Mar, capturing the Grade 2, $245,000 in an old-fashioned shootout against the highly regarded Roman Ruler.
Declan's Moon and Roman Ruler hooked up at the top of the stretch, and put on a thrilling duel in the homestretch. They were head and head while bounding clear of the field, but Declan's Moon, racing on the inside, out-finished Roman Ruler to win by a neck.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Ballingarry runs in Saturday's Grade 1 Man o' War, it will be the first time that trainer Laura de Seroux has saddled a horse at Belmont Park.
De Seroux, who trained Azeri during the mare's 2002 Horse of the Year campaign, has sent horses from her California training center at San Luis Rey Downs to run at Aqueduct and Saratoga. Last year, Ballingarry finished ninth in the Sword Dancer at Saratoga.
