ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Several of the six 3-year-olds in the Grade 3, $164,100 Toronto Cup Handicap at Woodbine have different agendas to consider beyond Saturday's nine-furlong turf stakes.
The connections of both Mobil and Strizzi are considering running their horses back in the $500,000 Breeders' Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown on Aug. 9.
Beat Your Feet has handled virtually everything that trainer Frank Brothers has asked of her in recent months. In fact, Beat Your Feet has been so sharp recently that she has earned the distinction of being the 116-pound highweight in the $100,000 HBPA Handicap, the first stakes of the meet at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Saturday's feature at Northlands brings together an excellent group of 10 allowance mares sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs.
The field for the $19,000 race includes Alberta's 2002 champion mare, A Ray of Magic, who was second to Sly Lady in the Duchess of York at Stampede Park June 7.
Another of Saturday's starters, S.L. Charmer, was third in that race, as she has been in all four of her outings this year.
Viva Ruckus and Tahquitz Pride are coming off victories, for claiming prices of $22,000 and $28,000, respectively.
AUBURN, Wash. - Nine 2-year-old fillies will get their first taste of stakes competition in Saturday's $35,000 Angie C. Stakes at six furlongs, and it is no surprise that trainer Bud Klokstad will be strongly represented.
Klokstad, who has won more stakes races and more 2-year-old races at Emerald Downs than any other trainer, will saddle the powerful entry of Aunt Tizzy and Genoa Cat, both winners of their career debuts in May.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Two Bobby Frankel-trained runners picked up minor illnesses this week and were forced to miss races.
Blue Boat, who would have been a short-priced favorite in Thursday's allowance feature at Belmont Park, had mucus in his nose and was scratched. Frankel also was unable to enter his Grade 1 winner Chiselling in Saturday's $150,000 Bowling Green Handicap because the colt spiked a fever.
Frankel doesn't believe the illnesses are serious.
"With Blue Boat, I didn't want to take a chance because he was going to be 3-5," Frankel said.
Unless somebody suddenly improves or Senor Swinger badly regresses, the eight 3-year-olds facing Senor Swinger in Saturday's $500,000 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs will be battling for second money.
Contested at 1 1/4 miles on turf, the Virginia Derby headlines a card that also includes the Grade 3, $200,000 All Along for fillies and mares, and the $50,000 David "Zeke" Ferguson Memorial, a Grade 3 steeplechase.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Pants N Kisses passed his first stakes test with flying colors, upsetting the 1 1/8-mile Victoria Park here June 8.
And although he will be making his turf debut, Pants N Kisses deserves more than a passing glance when he goes postward in Saturday's Toronto Cup, a Grade 3 race for 3-year-olds over 1 1/8 miles.
"I only worked him once on turf, last year, and he was very comfortable on it," said trainer Dave Cotey. In that work, on the training track turf course here last July 21, Pants N Kisses went five furlongs in 59.80 seconds.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Jack Lauzon picked up five victories last week at Fort Erie to leap from 13th to ninth place in the rider standings.
Born in nearby Welland, the 41-year-old Lauzon began his career in 1981 and now has accumulated more than $28 million in lifetime purse earnings from his 1,441 scores. He has captured the Queen's Plate twice, with Regal Intention in 1988 and Basqueian in 1994.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Woodbine shipper Trebbiano is the probable favorite among eight 4-year-old Manitoba-breds in Saturday's restricted $36,000 Manitoba Maturity, and the race should set up for him.
Trebbiano won his maiden for a $40,000 tag at the 1 1/16-mile trip of the Maturity at Woodbine last June. He came back this spring and ran two decent races against $40,000 claimers before dropping to the $16,000 level and winning, again at the Maturity distance, over a sloppy track.
A proven rallier, Trebbiano would benefit from a speed duel.