ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Canadian Triple Crown winner Wando will try to meet the challenge of Grade 1 competition Sunday at Woodbine in the seventh running of the $1 million Atto Mile.
Two other first-rate turf stakes are on Sunday's 11-race card at Woodbine - the Grade 2 Summer for 2-year-olds, and the Grade 2 Canadian for fillies and mares - but the Atto, with its strong local contingent, is perhaps the most anticipated race of the meeting.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Last month, Cuvee looked super when he won the Grade 2 Saratoga Special by 7 1/2 lengths and set a stakes record. On Sunday at Belmont Park, Cuvee will be required to carry his speed a mile in the $200,000 Futurity, a race his connections are using as a stepping-stone to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
The Grade 1 Futurity shares the card with the Grade 1 Matron for 2-year-old fillies. Both races will be shown live during an espn2 telecast that begins at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
Cuvee, the likely and deserving favorite, faces six in the Futurity.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher has won five out of the 10 stakes run this year in New York for 2-year-olds. He has the opportunity to add to that number on Sunday at Belmont Park when he saddles three 2-year-old fillies in the Grade 1 Matron, as well as Value Plus in the Grade 1 Futurity.
Pletcher's Matron starters, who are not coupled in the wagering, are Lokoya, Marylebone, and Sisti's Pride.
The Pletcher trio will face five others in the $200,000 Matron.
MIAMI - Michael Gill, the country's top owner in races won, and trainer Mark Shuman shattered records and stirred controversy during the 2003 Gulfstream Park meeting. But neither one of them will likely be back this winter to defend his title.
Barring an unforeseen change in plans, Gill said he will be racing in the mid-Atlantic region and at Fair Grounds in New Orleans this winter.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide got down to serious business Friday at Belmont Park when he had his first work since Aug. 19.
Under exercise rider Robin Smullen, Funny Cide covered a half-mile in 48.26 seconds, breezing, over the main track, which was listed as fast.
The early fractions on Funny Cide's work, according to the clockers, were 12.60 for the first furlong and 24.40 for the opening quarter-mile. Funny Cide galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.30.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - It will be only fitting to see Henry Carroll run Stormy Siege in the $50,000 Smoke Glacken Stakes Sunday at Monmouth Park.
The race honors Carroll's champion sprinter who earned an Eclipse Award in 1997.
"They say a man is entitled to one good woman and one good dog in life," Carroll said. "I guess a trainer is entitled to one good horse, and I've had mine."
Stormy Siege faces six rivals in the 2-year-old stakes race at six furlongs.
Stormy Siege didn't show much in his debut, but scored a sharp win in his second start.
Buoyed by one of his strongest performances in years, infamous maiden Zippy Chippy will try to win for the first time in his 99th race Sunday at the Three County Fair at Northampton, Mass.
The 12-year-old Zippy Chippy finished second last Saturday and came as close to ending his losing streak as he has in several seasons when he opened up a five-length lead at one point only to tire in the last furlong.
GROVE CITY, Ohio - Three-year-old Ben's Reflection tries for his first stakes win against older rivals when he starts as the 119-pound highweight against six Ohio-bred rivals in Sunday's $40,000 Honey Jay Handicap at Beulah Park.
Ben's Reflection, a son of Cahill Road, is unbeaten in four career starts at Sunday's six-furlong distance. Ben's Reflection's only two losses have come in two-turn races, and he set the pace in both races before weakening.
Columbus, Neb. - Seven 3-year-old Nebraska-breds close out the Nebraska racing season in Sunday's $15,000-added Stevens Handicap. Those in the field have taken turns beating one another since February.
High Tech Racing, Grayglen, Intervene, and Homer's Hero have traded shots throughout the year, and none has emerged as dominant. All four have been weighted closely - each in the 120-122 pound range - for this 6 1/2-furlong race, a good indication of how closely matched they have been all year.
POMONA, Calif. - Captain Squire, one of the top sprinters in California, will leave the state for his next start and possibly skip the Breeders' Cup Sprint altogether. Trainer Jeff Mullins said Friday that Captain Squire was aiming for the Grade 1, $500,000 Vosburgh on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park, forsaking the Grade 1 Ancient Title on Oct. 5 at Santa Anita.
"The Ancient Title will be tougher than [the Vosburgh], and it's only $250,000," Mullins said. "He's on the bubble to get into the Breeders' Cup anyway. If he wins the Vosburgh, we might just be satisfied with that."
