CALGARY, Alberta - A first-level allowance for 3-year-olds drew a strong field of nine as Friday's featured eighth race.
Three-year-olds hold the spotlight here the entire weekend with the 36th running of the President's for colts and geldings on Saturday followed by the 31st running of the Mount Royal for fillies the next day.
BALTIMORE - Wando will be on the outside looking in when he breaks from post 12 in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Argent Dixie Handicap at Pimlico.
The Dixie, run at nine furlongs on the turf, is one of seven undercard stakes on Saturday's 13-race Preakness card at Pimlico. First post is 10:45 a.m. Eastern.
, last year's Canadian Triple Crown winner, is coming off a solid allowance victory on turf at Keeneland on April 18. Overall, Wando is 2 for 4 on turf, including a victory in the Breeders' Stakes - the final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown - at 12 furlongs.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Green-clad employees cleaned 1,250 television monitors. Four hundred and forty-eight betting machines were programmed. Don't even ask how many vacuum cleaners roared or how many planter beds were sprinkled this week at Arlington Park.
The captain here is Dick Duchossois, still going strong at 82. The Duchossois way means no blade of grass will be misaligned for Friday's season opener.
MIAMI - The disqualification of Rolled Stocking from first to second in the eighth race at Calder on May 1 has been reversed on appeal. The decision was made Tuesday by Calder president Ken Dunn, who acted as hearing officer on the appeal filed by Rolled Stocking's trainer, Tim Hills, on behalf of owner Tom Roach.
It is the second such reversal in recent weeks. On April 27, the Arkansas Racing Commission overruled a decision of the stewards at Oaklawn Park and disqualified Wild Spirit from second place in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap, run April 3.
Humaita, the longest price in the field, held off the late charges of Noisette and Primetimevalentine to win the $60,800 Sabin Stakes by a half-length Wednesday at Belmont Park.
Noisette, the 6-5 favorite in the seven-horse field of fillies and mares, finished second, a half-length in front of Primetimevalentine.
The order of finish in the 1 1/4-mile grass race was completed by Shining Jewel, Lady Liberty, and Board Elligible.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Michael Gill, who led the nation's owners in wins last year, is disbanding his California stable, which was aggressively acquired through the claiming ranks in the last seven months.
John Morrissey, who works with Gill on his racing operation, said that the 28 horses that Gill has at Hollywood Park will be sent to Maryland, where they will be dispersed to other trainers. Gill will not have any horses remaining in California, Morrissey said.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Western Hemisphere was the weaker half of the Golden Eagle Farm entry when she finished second to stablemate Yearly Report in the $200,000 Melair Stakes at Hollywood Park on April 24.
When returns in a $50,000 allowance race for California-bred fillies and mares on Friday, she has the strongest credentials in a large field. The allowance race is run over 1 1/16 miles on turf, and marks Western Hemisphere's first start on that surface.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A bloody nose caused Home Court to be scratched from a comeback race last month at Keeneland. In Friday's eighth race at Churchill Downs, she appears difficult to defeat - provided she does not stop herself again.
is a deserving favorite in the eighth race, a $47,900 entry-level allowance at seven furlongs. In her only race, she won her maiden last summer at Saratoga, defeating La Reina by three-quarters of a length.