A full field of a dozen fillies and mares will contest the $50,000 Matron Handicap at Evangeline Downs.
Blue Guru and Southern Surprise are the co-highweights at 121 pounds in the mile race. Both were unplaced in the Sangue Handicap over the Louisiana Downs turf on Aug. 14, but each will be back on her favorite surface Saturday night.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Panorama Valley looks to run her unbeaten streak to four when she heads a field of eight 2-year-old fillies in the $40,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante.
Panorama Valley, an Ohio-bred daughter of Peaks and Valleys, was the buzz of the track here following a 10 1/4-length gate-to-wire debut score over males in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race on May 11.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - The entry of Monetary Star and Secret Romeo heads a field of eight Michigan-bred colts and geldings in the 80th running of the Frontier Handicap at Great Lakes Downs.
The $50,000 Frontier, at 1 1/8 miles, is the seventh of nine races on card that begins at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Anna Em ships in from Calder to head a field of nine Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies in the $40,000 Ohio Debutante Handicap at Thistledown.
Anna Em, a daughter of Our Emblem, will be making the first start of her 12-race career in Ohio in the six-furlong race. She has a 4-3-0 record for earnings of $156,486, highlighted by a win in the five-furlong Open Mind Stakes on the Churchill Downs grass course on May 15.
SASKATCHEWAN, Saskatoon - Fargo Forbes, winner of two stakes races here, will face nine foes in Saturday's seven-furlong Prairie Lily Sales Stakes, including three Alberta shippers.
The $22,500 Prairie Lily, the richest race of this meet, is restricted to graduates of the 2003 Saskatchewan yearling sale. Colts and geldings carry 122 pounds, and fillies carry 119.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Woodbine-based Wisdomisgold towers over her four opponents in the six-furlong $75,000 Juvenile Stakes here at Fort Erie on Saturday.
Although Wisdomisgold is still a maiden after three starts, her three Beyer Speed Figures (64, 48, 58) label her a standout, and all but one of her opponents also are maidens.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Grade 1 Atto Mile, which will be run on Sept. 19, has attracted 42 nominees, including 16 from the United States and nine from Europe.
But any horse venturing to Woodbine for the $1 million turf race could be in for a very rude reception, with Soaring Free, Perfect Soul, and Slew Valley all lying in wait.
Owned by Sam-Son Farm and trained by Mark Frostad, Soaring Free finished second in last year's Atto Mile, beaten a half-length by California invader Touch of the Blues and 1 3/4 lengths ahead of third-place Perfect Soul.
MIAMI - Calder Racecourse has canceled both its live racing program and simulcasting on Friday and Saturday because of the threat of Hurricane Frances.
Hurricane Frances, a category 4 storm, was expected to reach the Miami area sometime on Friday or early Saturday, according to weather forecasts late Thursday afternoon. Calder is in north Miami in Dade County on the border of Broward County.
DEL MAR, Calif. - A string of minor upsets on Wednesday has led to a carryover of $160,854 for Thursday's card at Del Mar.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races. There were no scratches at Wednesday's 24-hour scratch time.
The sequence includes two turf races, and four races on the main track - two sprints and two one-mile races.
The third race is run over a mile on turf for 2-year-olds. Stanton, trained by Richard Mandella, is 3-1 on the morning line, a slight choice over Paradise Cove.