Steve Flint was right after all.
Flint insisted several months ago that May Gator wasn't so much a hanger as a filly who simply went through a patch of tough luck. And, indeed, after posting a seemingly endless streak of second- and third-place finishes, May Gator broke through with two wins from her last four starts. She might very well make it 3 for 5 as the probable favorite Saturday in the $75,000 Dade Turf Classic at Ellis Park.
ALTOONA, Iowa - For most horses entered in Saturday's Iowa Classic Night stakes, a victory would be the high point of their careers. For the 2-year-old filly Lovethatlegend, it may be just a starting point.
Lovethatlegend, a daughter of Gold Legend, heads a field of eight in the $65,000-added Iowa Sorority, one of six Thoroughbred stakes for statebreds that will offer more than $420,000 in purses at Prairie Meadows Saturday. Four Quarter Horse stakes are also carded.
Kelly Von Hemel trains Lovethatlegend for her owner-breeders, Richard and Vickie Cosaert.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Tom Agosti, with three wins in the past racing week, including the late double on Tuesday, has unseated Layne Giliforte at the top of the trainer standings at Fort Erie.
Giliforte, a Buffalo, N.Y., native who has won the title in each of the last five years, was one up on Agosti as the week began but was shut out in nine attempts.
Agosti, born in nearby Kenmore N.Y., now has 36 victories and is winning at a 27 percent clip.
Remarkably, Agosti's numbers have been earned without the help of Right Stop, his stable star.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Trainer Hubert Pilon will send out a strong three-horse contingent led by Allourwishes and Stage Whisper for the meet's richest race, Saturday's $22,500 Prairie Lily Sales Stakes.
The Prairie Lily is at about seven furlongs and for graduates of the 2002 Saskatchewan yearling sale. In addition to the base purse, fillies run for a $4,500 premium.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society (B.C. Division) will hold its annual yearling and mixed sale Tuesday at the Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, B.C. The sale begins at 2 p.m. There is a yearling parade scheduled for Monday, also at 2 p.m. There's a total of 181 horses up for sale and 165 are yearlings.
Five stakes for Pennsylvania-breds are part of Saturday's 10-race card at Philadelphia Park.
The stakes action begins in the fifth race with the $50,000 Captain My Captain, a five-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds and up.
Namequest, who won the Pennsylvania Governors Cup Handicap in his last start on Aug. 2, is the horse to beat in the field of eight.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Saturday's Niagara Handicap attracted a surprising total of six invaders, and the number of arrivals had reached four on Thursday when Better Talk Now and Revved Up checked in during the pre-dawn hours. Cetewayo and Bowman Mill, both trained by Michael Dickinson, shipped in earlier this week. Dr. Kashnikow and Jack's Own Time were still en route.
Better Talk Now, who had been training at Fair Hill, Md., was accompanied by exercise rider Fenella O'Flynn.
This weekend, such juvenile phenoms as Chapel Royal and Birdstone will do battle in the $200,000 Hopeful at Saratoga, and highly regarded West Coast-based fillies Halfbridled and Victory U. S. A. clash in the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante. Meanwhile, a group of far less renowned 2-year-olds will be chasing equally big money in a pair of $200,000 stakes on Saturday's program at Delaware Park.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Unbeaten 3-year-old Grand Hombre tuned up for the biggest challenge of his young career with a strong four-furlong drill Thursday morning at Monmouth Park.
Grand Hombre runs in the Grade 3, $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby on Monday at Philadelphia Park.
Grand Hombre worked four furlongs in 47.40 seconds with regular exercise rider Roberto Garcia.
"The way he worked this morning was very, very impressive," trainer Dennis Manning said.
A stakes winner trying to remain perfect is always of interest, and that is the draw at Retama Park near San Antonio Saturday night when There Goes Rocket puts his win streak on the line in the $100,000 Ketel One El Joven, and Bluegrass Sara does the same in the $100,000 La Senorita.
The stakes are for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf, and together they make for one of the richest nights of racing at the meet.