East Boston, Mass. - Strongestsovereign appears ready to live up to his breeding in Saturday's $35,000 Norman Hall Stakes for 2-year-old Massachusetts-breds.
Strongestsovereign is a son of Sundance Ridge and the dam Sultan's Light. Owner Manny Roos has already seen Strongestsovereign's brother Stylish Sultan and sister Sunlit Ridge rack up multiple championships and numerous stakes races.
Distinct Vision has won three races - by a combined margin of nearly 21 lengths - and finished a close second in four starts at Delaware Park this season, all with Ramon Dominguez as his jockey. In three trips out of town, with a different rider on his back each time, Distinct Vision has been beaten a collective 44 lengths.
Trainer Mike Pino has done his best to accommodate Distinct Vision's preferences by entering him in Saturday's $100,000 Sussex Handicap, but the gelding will have to race on turf for the first time and might have to do without Dominguez.
Northern Air and Gators N Bears head a group of 12 3-year-old sprinters in Saturday's $50,000 Sonny Hine Stakes, the six-furlong feature at Laurel Park.
Northern Air, part of a Michael Gill-owned entry with Philadelphia Jim, ran the best race of his career earlier this month, winning the six-furlong Gallant Bob Handicap at Philadelphia Park with a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Trainer Rick Hedge has shown the Midas touch in the waning weeks of the Alberta season, which is a good omen for the speedball King Jeremy in an optional claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday.
King Jeremy was recently claimed by Hedge for owner Richard Davies for $28,000 and is making his second start for Hedge, a former Alberta champion rider.
Hedge won the Beaufort with Beau Brass on Alberta Fall Classics Day Sept. 20 and last weekend won the Freedom of the City with Waikoloa.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Lilsisterlightning, who has been one of the top sprinting mares at Hastings for the last two years, will likely be favored over in a $50,000 optional race for fillies and mares going 6 1/2 furlongs Saturday.
Lilsisterlightning, is coming off of an eighth-place finish in the Delta Collen Stakes Sept. 21, but that was going around three turns and both times she's tried to carry her speed farther than 6 1/2 furlongs she's finished out of the money.
PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will launch its 80-day 2003-2004 meeting on Saturday with a nine-race program that drew 89 entries, including a full field of 12 older sprinters in the featured Inaugural Handicap at six furlongs.
The $10,000 Inaugural will see the return to Oregon of Lethal Grande, who will carry high weight of 123 pounds. Lethal Grande, a 4-year-old son of Corslew who races for owner Mike Pollowitz, has won 6 of 28 races and nearly $120,000, racing mainly in California.
CHICAGO - The big three in Saturday's Hawthorne Derby dwindled to two when Remind was taken out of the race, sick at his Kentucky base. Lismore Knight and Foufa's Warrior, the two highest-rated 3-year-old turf horses in the derby, no longer have Remind to conquer, but the up-and-comers Sir Walter Rahy and False Promises may turn up the heat.
Add several other fringe contenders, and the Grade 3, $250,000 Hawthorne Derby, run at 1 1/8 miles on turf, looks like an excellent betting race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A nose away from a perfect record after three starts, Razen Hazen will attempt to win his second stakes in Saturday's $75,000 Sunny Slope Stakes at Santa Anita.
Trained in Northern California by owner Dennis Ward, Razen Hazen brings a strong record to the Sunny Slope Stakes, run over six furlongs for 2-year-olds.
Razen Hazen won the Cavonnier Juvenile over 5 1/2 furlongs at Santa Rosa in early August and was a game second to Hajji's Honor in the San Mateo Stakes on Sept. 28, losing by a nose over six furlongs.
Since 1976, when Jerry Nielsen and his wife, Joanne, bought their first broodmare, the couple have bred many New York-bred stakes winners, including Capades, who was the 1990 New York-bred Horse of the Year, Roman Dancer, I'm All Yours, Along Came Mary, and Quantum Merit.
The Nielsens, who have been married 43 years, own and manage the 200-acre Sunnyfield Farm, a commercial breeding operation in Westchester County, where they keep their 12 broodmares.