MIAMI - Trainer Milt Wolfson had two choices for his versatile Super Frolic: run last weekend for a $500,000 purse in the six-furlong Smile Sprint Handicap or await Sunday's more modest Best of the Rest Stakes, an overnight race that carries a mere $40,000 purse.
Wolfson entered Super Frolic in the Smile but resisted temptation to go for the really big payday, opting instead to keep Super Frolic at his best distance of 1 1/16 miles for the Best of the Rest.
That Tat has a history of running big following a layoff, and on Sunday he will be returning from a near two-month break when he starts in the $50,000 Island Whirl Handicap at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.
The six-furlong race has drawn seven quality sprinters, and it will go as the sixth on the program. That Tat is the 120-pound highweight in a field that includes stakes winners Doctor Mike, More Crafty, and Ole Rebel, who in his last start won the $50,000 Kings Court.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Rich Rubies and Gold Strike square off again in at Assiniboia Downs in Sunday's $40,000 Debutante Stakes. The 5 1/2-furlong Debutante, the first 2-year-old stakes race of the meet, has drawn a field of seven fillies. All entrants have raced only once.
Rich Rubies set the pace and narrowly held off favored Gold Strike at 4 1/2 furlongs on July 1. Trained by Emile Corbel, Rich Rubies could have pace pressure here from Redlipsnfingertips or Dancin Little T.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Le Cinquieme Essai, one of Fort Erie's most celebrated runners, returns Sunday to headline the International Turf Cup, one of two $100,000, 1 1/16-mile turf stakes that are supporting attractions to the main feature, the $500,000 Prince of Wales.
The other stakes is the Ernie Samuel Memorial, for fillies and mares. Both are restricted to Canadian-breds.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - A Bit O'Gold was favored at 6-5 when he dropped a three-quarter-length decision to Niigon in the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the 1 1/4-mile Queen's Plate at Woodbine on June 27.
Sunday, A Bit O'Gold will have the perfect opportunity to take a measure of revenge at Fort Erie in the $500,000 Prince of Wales, where he could derail Niigon's bid to add the second jewel in the crown to his collection.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Flat Rock, an impressive first-out winner on Queen's Plate Day, should go favored in Sunday's $158,700 Clarendon Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong event for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds.
Trainer Mark Casse said Flat Rock came with high expectations when he was shipped to his Woodbine barn this spring from owner Eugene and Laura Melnyk's Florida farm. "They really liked him at the farm, and he trained really well up here," Casse said. "He had shown pretty good speed."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A 3-year-old filly other than Regal Red will actually win a stakes race at Hastings this year. Regal Red has dominated every stakes for 3-year-old fillies at the meet, but she's taking a short leave of absence and that makes the 1 1/16-mile Nanaimo Stakes a wide-open race on Sunday.
Trainer David Forster has entered three horses, but you won't get much of a price, because they'll run as an entry. Of the three, Socorro County will attract the most attention.
AUBURN, Wash. - Swingn' Notes won last month's one-mile Irish Day Handicap for 3-year-old fillies by a convincing length to remain undefeated in three tries around two turns, but it seems that the issue of divisional leadership has not yet been decided. Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Kent Handicap will introduce two newcomers to the local stakes ranks, and it is conceivable that either or both could go favored over Swingn' Notes.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - They call them downtrodden claimers. They call them overshadowed and forgotten. They call them blue-collar workers, horses who put on the show day after day at racetracks across America while earning little more than hay and oats.
"They" are wrong - at least for one day in one place.
Saturday at Canterbury Park, claiming horses will take the national racing spotlight in the Claiming Crown, a $550,000 series that endeavors to reward and recognize the lesser lights of Thoroughbred racing.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Jeff Mullins earned a living at smaller racetracks in the far West before hitting it big in Southern California in recent years. So, heading back to Canterbury Park for the Claiming Crown for the second straight year, Mullins finds himself in a comfort zone.
