AUBURN, Wash. - Lasting Code, who ranked as the top 3-year-old filly on the grounds here in 2002, will return in Saturday's allowance feature at Emerald after an absence of 20 months.
The headliner, a 5 1/2-furlong race that drew five, is for older fillies and mares who have not won $22,000 since Sept. 23.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Chris's Bad Boy, Woodbine's six-furlong track record holder, will help get the meeting off to a fast start in Saturday's opening day feature, the $135,750 Jacques Cartier Stakes.
The 167-day stand, which will have an average overnight purse distribution of $415,000, is scheduled to conclude Dec. 12. The meeting's highlights are the $1 million Queen's Plate on June 27, the Grade 1 Atto Mile on Sept. 19, and the Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International on Oct. 24.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - New ownership at Hastings means fresh optimism on the backstretch. Under the Woodbine Entertainment Group the track did turn things around, but many believe that with successful local businessmen Peter Wall and Peter Redekop now at the top, Hastings could take off, especially if slots are approved by the Vancouver City Council. Wall owns 40 percent of the subsidiary formed by co-owner Great Canadian Gaming Corporation to operate Hastings. Redekop has been named to the board of directors.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine this year has introduced a new set of optional claiming races, which are designed to benefit the owners and trainers of younger horses who are a cut below allowance caliber.
Last year, the only optional claimers written at Woodbine were for $80,000 and $100,000 runners.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stronach Stable has shuffled its Woodbine deck again for the 2004 meeting, and the big winners are trainers Danny Vella and Mike Keogh.
Vella returned to front-line duty here last spring after spending the previous five years directing the troops at Stronach's Adena Springs South in Florida. This year, he has 34 stalls set aside for Stronach runners, up from 20 last year.
Keogh, new to the Stronach operation, will have six stalls here for the powerhouse owner, bringing the outfit to its maximum of 40 stalls on track.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Baffert invasion is officially under way. Besides Wimbledon and Preachinatthebar, his hopefuls for a fourth Kentucky Derby victory, trainer Bob Baffert also has brought his usual strong supporting cast from Southern California to Kentucky for what he hopes is another successful spring and summer.
Although he typically waits to begin flexing his muscles at the Churchill Downs meet, Baffert figures to be front and center Friday at Keeneland, where Cat Fighter will face 10 other fillies and mares in the $100,000 Doubledogdare Stakes.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Like everyone else, George Weaver does not know which horses, if any, will earn their Kentucky Derby stripes when the Coolmore Lexington Stakes is run Saturday at Keeneland. But Weaver, as the trainer of one of the race favorites, Saratoga County, sure intends to find out.
"I don't want to make the mistake of writing the horse off before we even know for sure" whether Saratoga County is Derby material, Weaver said.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Once a year, a unique kind of ooh-and-aah emanates from the Keeneland grandstand. That's when steeplechasers take to the turf course to compete in the Grade 1 Royal Chase for the Sport of Kings, and that's when racing fans unaccustomed to flying Thoroughbreds can't resist expressing their delight at the novelty.
CHICAGO - He will probably not get a police motorcade as his horse van travels crosstown from O'Hare airport to Hawthorne Race Course on Wednesday. But as far as Saturday's National Jockey Club Handicap goes, Ten Most Wanted has the status of a visiting dignitary.
The five horses entered on Tuesday to face him in the Grade 3, $250,000 race, have earned a total of about $1,262,000 among them. Ten Most Wanted, just a 4-year-old now, has bankrolled more than $1.5 million.