ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Friday's draw for the Labatt Woodbine Oaks should be short and sweet.
As of Wednesday, only six of the 66 nominees had been declared for the $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks, a 1 1/8-mile race that is the premier test for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
A field of six would be the shortest since 1993, when Deputy Jane West, trained by Mac Benson, prevailed as the odds-on choice.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mac Benson has been in this position before. In 1993, he captured the Labatt Woodbine Oaks with Deputy Jane West, a daughter of Silver Deputy. On Sunday he will send out Nashinda, also a daughter of Silver Deputy, in the $500,000 Oaks, a nine-furlong event for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
Benson, who trained Silver Deputy, believes that Nashinda is better suited to the Oaks distance than Deputy Jane West.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - The Assiniboia Downs stakes schedule begins in earnest this week, with a stakes race each day.
The Golden Boy and the Chantilly, originally slated for June 5 and 6, were rescheduled to Friday and Saturday after a press-box fire forced the cancellation of four race days. The La Verendrye goes on Sunday.
All three stakes will be run at six furlongs and carry a purse of $40,000.
Deputy Ambassador seeks his first stakes win and third victory in as many starts in the Golden Boy, for 3-year-old colts and geldings.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Midway Road will run in the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, trainer Neil Howard said Tuesday, giving the Grade 1 race four of the nation's top handicap horses for its 23rd running Saturday.
Howard and Midway Road's owner, Will Farish, had agonized for weeks over whether to keep Midway Road at home for the Foster or to run instead the same day in the Brooklyn Handicap in New York. In the end, it was the horse's brilliance in his recent training that "may have tipped the scales in favor" of running in the Foster, said Howard.
The field for Saturday's $350,000 Ohio Derby grew to at least nine on Tuesday when trainer Marcelo Polanco informed the Thistledown racing office that he will send Mambo Train, winner of the Turf Paradise Derby, in for the race from his Santa Anita base.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Carl Nafzger, who lost Lead Story to a career-ending ankle injury Saturday, said Tuesday that he remains undecided on whether to run Mayo on the Side in Saturday's Grade 2, $400,000 Fleur de Lis Handicap.
The Fleur de Lis is one of six stakes to be run here Saturday, including the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - New Jersey wants to host a Smarty party.
The Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 8 would be the ideal spot.
If that date doesn't fit comfortably into Smarty Jones's schedule, there are a couple of fall options at The Meadowlands.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Front-runner Ender's Shadow will control the pace in the Grade 2 Californian Stakes at Hollywood Park, one of the three graded stakes on the Saturday card. Beyond dictating the tempo of the race, Ender's Shadow also will illustrate the potential benefits of turning a colt into a gelding.
A son of A.P. Indy, Ender's Shadow was well bred but poorly behaved. Trainer Jenine Sahadi explained why a colt by one of the world's top stallions just had to be gelded.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An ageless temptation will prove difficult to resist Thursday at Hollywood Park - taking a short price on a horse attempting something new.
will test the just-say-no approach in race 5, a one-other-than allowance route for 3-year-old fillies. The 1 1/16-mile turf race is problematic, because it comes on the heels of two persuasive main-track sprint wins by Alphabet Kisses. Bettors on Thursday must decide whether to back the filly in a turf route based on form established in a dirt sprint.
