SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - An average live handle of $21,169 for the recently concluded 30-day Marquis Downs meeting represented a solid 9.1 percent increase compared to 2002.
The handle of $43,156 on last Saturday's closing-day program was the largest here in many years. The highlight of the card was the $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby, won by the locally owned Alberta ship-in Beauzak.
Attendance figures are not kept.
Both the trainer and jockey titles went to first-time winners.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wando already has overcome two major obstacles this year en route to his sweep of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Now, Wando will face his highest hurdle to date, as he'll be cutting back from 1 1/2 miles to a mile on the turf course and facing some talented open-company older runners in Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile.
"He's done everything he's been asked to do," said Mike Keogh, who trains Wando for owner-breeder Gustav Schickedanz. "I don't think I'd want to swap [chances] with anyone."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The field for Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile grew Tuesday with the news that Freefourinternet would be shipping in from Kentucky for the turf race.
Freefourinternet, a 5-year-old horse trained by Joan Scott, is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Firecracker Breeders' Cup Handicap, a one-mile turf race at Churchill Downs on July 5.
Robby Albarado has the mount on Freefourinternet, who will carry 117 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Atto Mile. As of Tuesday, a field of 11 or 12 was expected.
Cole Norman might have a third horse for the Breeders' Cup next month after Mass Media, a 2-year-old colt he trains for Gary and Mary West, won an entry-level allowance by 22 lengths Sunday at Louisiana Downs.
Mass Media earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100, which is tied for the second highest Beyer among 2-year-olds in 2003. The highest is a 103 earned by Cuvee.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Scott Lake wasn't looking for the hardest race he could find to get Shake You Down back on track for next month's Breeders' Cup Sprint. He wasn't looking for a walkover, either.
It would appear Lake found exactly what he was looking for Thursday at Belmont Park as Shake You Down was entered against several stakes-caliber animals in a $56,000 classified allowance race.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Reade Baker and Scott Fairlie, two of Woodbine's hottest trainers, are well represented in Thursday's Woodbine feature, a $61,600 preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds and up.
Baker will send out Alpha King in the six-furlong race. Owned by Stronach Stable, Alpha King ran sixth in his debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight race July 26, running greenly while wide over an inside biased track. He displayed a remarkable form reversal with the addition of blinkers Aug. 24, when he graduated on the front end by seven lengths.
CHICAGO - The bettors have been chasing Stormybdancing ever since she popped at odds of 20-1 in her turf debut back in April, and they will be hot on her tail in the seventh race on Thursday at Arlington.
Stormybdancing heads a large field in the nominal feature on a nine-race card here. The race, at about 1 1/16 miles on grass, is restricted to 3-year-old fillies. It is getting late in the year for 3-year-old restricted races, and the opportunity to run in such a race has brought out 12 horses.
AUBURN, Wash. - The initial dozen inductees into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame - announced last Friday - have sparked debate and unleashed a flood of memories.
The same thing is likely to happen in succeeding years, when no more than three new candidates will be inducted in a single year, and that alone makes the project worthwhile. It's good to remember the past, and to honor those who made it memorable.
AUBURN, Wash. - If Not Why Not, a prolific winner who is on an uncharacteristic four-race losing streak, stretches out to a mile in Thursday's Emerald Downs feature, which drew eight older $10,000 claimers.
If Not Why Not, a winner of 11 of his 32 starts, won back-to-back sprints over $8,000 and $12,500 company in June, but has since been denied in two starts for $16,000 and two for $12,500, all sprints. Trainer and part-owner George Colello is making three significant changes on Thursday in an attempt to get the 7-year-old If Not Why Not back to the winner's circle.
