VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The final preps for both the Grade 2, $250,000 British Columbia Derby and the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Oaks highlight Monday's card at Hastings.
Dancewithavixen will be a heavy favorite to win her fifth race in a row in the $50,000 Free Vacation Stakes, the Oaks prep, and Steady Smiler may be favored in the $40,000 Richmond Derby Trial. Both races are at 1 1/16 miles.
AUBURN, Wash. - Hastings Park kingpin Roscoe Pito will invade Emerald Downs to take on five locally based 3-year-olds in Monday's $125,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Derby at 1 1/8 miles.
Roscoe Pito, a B. C.-bred son of Light of Mine from the barn of John Snow, is coming off back-to-back stakes wins at 1 1/16 miles at Hastings, and has not finished worse than third in six career starts, all this year. Regular rider Sam Krasner retains the mount.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - As fast as Silver Wagon established himself as one of the better 2-year-olds of the year was as fast as trainer Ralph Ziadie plans to put him away.
Splitting horses under Jerry Bailey in midstretch, Silver Wagon came home a four-length winner over heavily favored Chapel Royal in Saturday's Grade 1, $200,000 Hopeful before 23,137 at Saratoga. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to longshot Notorious Rogue in third. Birdstone, an impressive maiden winner earlier in the meet, finished fourth.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Feline Story took charge at the top of lane and drew off to a 5 3/4-length win in the Grade 3, $100,000 Sorority Stakes Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Park.
Feline Story ran the six furlongs in 1:10.93 over the wet-fast track to take Monmouth's premier event for 2-year-old fillies and give Jose C. Ferrer a rare double.
He became the first jockey since Jacinto Vasquez to sweep the Sapling and the Sorority, the track's top juvenile stakes, in one year.
In 1974, Vasquez scored with Foolish Pleasure in the Sapling and Ruffian in the Sorority.
CINCINNATI - In Rome drove to victory Saturday in the $100,000 Bassinet Stakes at River Downs, prompting the inevitable questions about whether owner Carl Pollard and trainer Dave Vance had another potential Breeders' Cup winner on their hands.
"Well, I don't know," a smiling Vance said after In Rome wore down a stubborn Down By the Sea to win the six-furlong Bassinet by three-quarters of a length. "I know this is a good filly, a useful filly. The good thing is, she'll get better around two turns, I guarantee it."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Crazy Ensign ran the best race of her U.S. career in Friday's $76,525 Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers Handicap at Del Mar. She finished 1 3/8 miles on turf in 2:12.07, lowering the course record by .08 and winning by 6 1/2 lengths.
The minor handicap marked the first time she has won consecutive races since the spring of 1999, when she was racing in Argentina.
Trainer Richard Mandella cannot fully explain her newfound consistency. He is not very worried about it, either.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Carla Gaines will be watching Monday's $125,000 Solana Beach Handicap with both anticipation and trepidation. Her filly Super High is the defending champion in the race, and is the highweight at 120 pounds for this year's running. On her best day, she is the horse to beat.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Over the next eight days, trainer Dan Hendricks will run three horses in three stakes races at Del Mar, a dizzying pace for his moderate-sized, 25-horse barn. He begins on Monday with Reba's Gold, who, both literally and figuratively, is the barn's big horse. Rhianna, who prefers to go barefoot at the beach, follows on either Thursday or Sunday, and then one week from Monday, Don'tsellmeshort seeks to bookend this track's stakes for California-bred 2-year-old males.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Ninebanks and Surprise Halo have established quite a rivalry since last year's California Turf Championship at Bay Meadows.
Ninebanks defeated Surprise Halo by a half-length in last year's race, and the two figure to be strong contenders against six rivals in Monday's running of the one-mile, $100,000 turf race for Cal-breds.
Both relish the turf here. Ninebanks has five wins and two seconds in nine starts; Surprise Halo is 14-6-4-2.