POMONA, Calif. - The last Saturday of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet will be a day of firsts for trainer Mel Stute, jockey Julie Krone, and 3-year-old gelding Excess Summer.
Stute will be the first inductee into the Fairplex Park Hall of Fame in a ceremony preceding the $100,000 Pomona Derby, a race that represents a first for Krone. She will be riding at Fairplex Park for the first time, and has the luxury of being aboard a standout.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Everyday Angel, one of the more impressive 2-year-old filly winners at the Saratoga meet, moves from maiden to stakes racing Saturday on closing day at Arlington. And she will be favored to do so successfully.
Ten others were entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie, a dirt race at one mile around one turn. But in terms of pure ability, none is likely to match up with Everyday Angel, who dueled on the lead and missed by a nose in her career debut at Churchill, then came back with a 12 1/2-length win Aug. 11 at Saratoga.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Thoroughbred racing is in thrall to raw speed. Breeders create it. Owners crave it. Handicappers quantify it. And during the summer, a good 2-year-old is supposed to show it.
But for the best 2-year-olds of the crop, those that hope to dent the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, this is the time of year raw speed ceases to suffice, when a young horse must learn racing is a profession, not just a mad dash. And this is the time of year when horses with quality and stamina outdistance summer's precocious speedballs.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The two-length margin that Roscoe Pito held over Steady Smiler at the end of the Grade 2, $326,750 British Columbia Derby is a bit misleading. Yes, he was being asked by rider Pedro Alvarado, and "driving" is the correct term to describe his win. However, it appeared that he was running quite easily at the finish and would likely have repelled any challenge, had there been one. Alvarado, who was aboard the British Columbia-bred Roscoe Pito for the first time, concurred.
The $40,000 Minstrel Stakes for 2-year-olds at Louisiana Downs has been a launching pad for some quality colts through the years, including Risen Star, Bet Me Best, and Crowned King. Saturday, two fast debut winners, South Africa and Joe Six Pack, will try to win the six-furlong race, but to do so they both must beat Next Bandit.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The message on the side of the Red Cross van hit home for Debbie Sones.
"I was sitting in traffic the other day and I spotted the truck with 'Disaster Relief' written on it," the trainer said. "That's what I need."
It has been a tough meet for Sones. She has won only one race from 12 starters at Monmouth Park as the barn has suffered a run of leg injuries.
PHOENIX - So far Unyielding has been true to his name - especially when racing on the Turf Paradise dirt.
Unyielding has been a dynamo here, winning all four of his local main-track starts, and he is the horse to beat in Saturday's $35,000 Saguaro Stakes. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds lured a field of eight, but no matter how you look at it, this race seems to go through Unyielding.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - By winning three races last week, Chris Tuttle edged closer to Layne Giliforte, who is in second-place in the trainers standing here. Giliforte goes into the weekend with 37 wins, three more than Tuttle.
Tuttle, who was slow off the mark this year, appeared to have a good chance to narrow the gap significantly on Tuesday. A track that came up muddy, however, weakened his hand.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Canadian International and the E.P. Taylor Stakes, both Grade 1 turf races and perennial highlights of the local fall season, have returned to their mid-October dates this year after being situated in late September as preps for the Breeders' Cup the past two seasons.
In fact, this year's Oct. 19 date for the $1.5 million Canadian International and the $750,000 E.P. Taylor puts the races in direct competition with the Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup card.
East Boston, Mass. - Jill's Layup, one of the most promising Massachusetts-bred fillies to come around in years, returns from a five-month layoff in the $35,000 Massachusetts Oaks for statebred 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles.
Trained by Edward Stone, Jill's Layup won her debut last summer at Rockingham, and since then she has won five races, including four stakes.
Jill's Layup won her last two races, both open to male horses. In March she won the African Prince Stakes and a month later took the Helena Stakes.