An accomplished group of grass horses meet in Saturday's $150,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial Breeders' Cup Handicap at Laurel Park.
There is no standout in the 11-horse field, but several horses have solid credentials, including graded winner Dr. Kashnikow, the leading money earner in the field with $588,791.
Dr. Kashnikow, who is trained by John Fisher, is the class of the field, but certainly not a sure thing.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Patton's Victory goes for his sixth win of the year when he starts as the 122-pound highweight in a field of eight, including two entries, in the $75,000 Prairie Meadows Handicap.
Patton's Victory, who will be making his third start in 21 days, comes off a third-place finish behind Daunting in the Claiming Crown Jewel at Canterbury Park two weeks ago. He set the pace to the stretch in the 1 1/8-mile race before fading to be beaten 5 1/2 lengths.
Formal Miss and Dakota Light, the one-two finishers in the Lenta Stakes at Calder in May, are the main contenders in the $50,000 Convenience Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
They face six seemingly overmatched rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
Formal Miss, who won the 1 1/16-mile Lenta as the favorite by less than a length, has raced once since, finishing third in the Lone Star Oaks after she was bumped hard early in the race.
Ding's Thing, who has won her two lifetime starts by a combined margin of more than 15 lengths, will step out of her division to face the boys in the $40,000 Hoover Stakes at River Downs. The Hoover, for Ohio-bred 2-year-olds, will be contested at six furlongs.
The winner of an open maiden against colts by more than seven lengths on July 5 at Thistledown, Ding's Thing returned to the track a week later to register an eight-length win in the Tah Dah Stakes for Ohio-bred fillies at River Downs.
LAFAYETTE, La. - Streak of Smoke, second in the "Shine" Young Futurity in his most recent trip to the post, will try to do one better Saturday night as he heads up the cast for the Evangeline Downs Sales Futurity. The $35,000-guaranteed, five-furlong feature is for 2-year-olds consigned and passed through the sales ring at the 2003 Evangeline Downs 2-year-olds in training sale in March.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - It's time to get back on the bus.
Eight weeks after their rollicking Triple Crown ride ended in the Belmont Stakes, the connections of Funny Cide, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, will pile into their yellow school busses and make their way to Monmouth Park for Sunday's $1 million Haskell Invitational, in which seven 3-year-olds were entered on Thursday morning.
DEL MAR, Calif. - For the fourth time in the first seven days of racing at the Del Mar meeting, there is a carryover in the pick six. On Wednesday, no tickets had all six winners, leaving a carryover of $137,285 for Thursday's eight-race program.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races on Thursday. Here is a glance at the changes and leading contenders.
Three of the six races are for maidens and one is run on turf.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Don'tsellmeshort stunned trainer Dan Hendricks with an upset win in Wednesday's $125,000 Graduation Stakes at Del Mar.
Ridden by superb gate jockey Patrick Valenzuela, Don'tsellmeshort led throughout the 5 1/2 furlongs to win by three lengths.
"I didn't think he'd outbreak and outrun those horses that easily," Hendricks said.
Don'tsellmeshort had finished fourth as the favorite after a poor start in the Haggin Stakes at Hollywood Park on June 21, but made no mistakes in the Graduation Stakes for state-bred 2-year-olds.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - The "second season" for 3-year-olds starts Sunday afternoon with significant stakes at Monmouth Park and Saratoga.
Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide headlines the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth while Empire Maker, the Triple Crown spoiler in the Belmont Stakes, returns to action in the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga.
The two races set the stage for the ultimate divisional showdown of the summer: the $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23.
The field for the Grade 1 Haskell has slowly started to assemble at Monmouth.
