CARENCRO, La. - Saturday night's $100,000 Evangeline Mile will bring together some of the region's top handicap performers. A field of nine will go off in the meeting's marquee event for older horses, led by defending champ and 124-pound highweight Pie N Burger.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Debut winner One Fine Affair heads a wide-open field of 10 2-year-olds entered in Saturday's $50,000-added Iowa Stallion Futurity at Prairie Meadows.
One Fine Affair dueled to the stretch and then drew clear for a 1 3/4-length victory over statebred maiden special weight company at five furlongs here July 2.
MUSKEGON, Mich. - Rockem Sockem, the hottest 3-year-old on the grounds, has been made the early even-money favorite for Saturday evening's $40,000 Dowling Stakes at Great Lakes Downs. A one-mile event, the Dowling has drawn a field of eight Michigan-bred 3-year-old colts and geldings. Rockem Sockem's trainer, Bob Gorham, will saddle three of the entrants.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Eleven Ohio-bred 2-year-olds will match strides over six furlongs in the $40,000 Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at Thistledown.
Bug Hunter comes into the race off a neck victory in the 5 1/2-furlong Hoover Stakes on July 18. He has won two of his three starts and will be hard to handle under his regular rider Irwin Rosendo.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Last year's New England horse of the year Megan's Halo looks for her first win of 2004 when she takes on a full field in the $40,000 Drumtop Stakes, one of the biggest open stakes of the summer at Suffolk Downs.
Megan's Halo was voted horse of the year by the New England Turf Writers on the strength of five straight victories and two stakes wins in 2003, all after she was switched to route races by owner and trainer John Assimakopoulos.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Inish Glora and Heyahohowdy, the one-two finishers in last year's Victoriana, will go at it again in Saturday's renewal of the Victoriana.
A field of eight Ontario-sired fillies and mares will run in the Victoriana, a 1 1/16-mile turf race that will offer a purse of $133,250. But the focus will be on the rivalry between Inish Glora and Heyahohowdy.
Inish Glora won the 2003 Victoriana by two lengths, but Heyahohowdy turned the tables three weeks later, prevailing by a neck in the Belle Geste over 1 1/8 miles on the turf.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Upset wins by Quinten Boy ($92.60) and Voz de Colegiala ($23.20) on Wednesday has led to a carryover of of $159,263 for Thursday's pick six at Del Mar.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races on Thursday's program, which starts at 2 p.m. The pick six includes four sprints, including one on turf, and two one-mile races, one of which is on turf.
The third race is an optional claimer over a mile. There are only six starters and Power Tripper is the 7-5 favorite on the morning-line.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - From Kentucky to Saratoga to Chicago and points in between, this has been an unforgettable summer for Ken Ramsey and Dale Romans.
The owner-trainer team will be at Arlington Park on Saturday in the hopes that Kitten's Joy, the heavy favorite in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes, can perpetuate their recent streak of tremendous fortune. "I'm floating on cloud nine," said Ramsey. "I'm just hoping the bloom stays on the rose."
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Chris Block sat on his stable pony Wednesday morning just shy of Arlington's clubhouse turn, and turned to the rail with a smile as Mystery Giver barreled past in a strong gallop.
"That's perfect for him," Block said. "That's as good as he can gallop."
Mystery Giver's major work for the Arlington Million already is done. Now it is up to the horse - and Mystery Giver can be fickle in displaying his ample talent.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Jason Orman knew something was wrong as he watched Rock Hard Ten finish a retreating sixth in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Sunday.
An impressive winner of the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park in his previous start, Rock Hard Ten stalked the pace set by eventual winner Lion Heart but dropped out of contention on the final turn.
It turned out Rock Hard Ten was ill. The postrace endoscopic examination detected copious mucus, and the blood work was off.
