MIAMI - The lure of $1.75 million in purses will have some of the top sprinters, trainers, and jockeys in the country heading to south Florida for next Saturday's Summit of Speed program at Calder.
The $500,000 Smile Sprint and Princess Rooney handicaps will highlight the card and both races are expected to attract outstanding talent from all across America.
AUBURN, Wash. - Geardown will be a solid favorite over five rivals in Sunday's feature at Emerald Downs, a $50,000 optional claiming race for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs.
Geardown, a gelded son High Brite from the barn of trainer Bud Klokstad, is coming off an out-of-the money finish under the same conditions at a mile on June 15. Before that, however, he ran a bang-up second to Leather N Lace in the Pepsi-Cola Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs. With the move back to his favorite distance, Geardown figures to be very hard to deny.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Cindy Krasner apparently didn't like the spot Mecke Monster was in on Saturday, a $35,000 optional race. Instead, she will run him in Sunday's $25,000 claiming race for older horses going 1 1/16 miles at Hastings, where he figures to be a short price.
Trainer Steve Bryant is making the same move with Colonial Secretary, who will be making his first start since being claimed by Kim Hart for $11,000 June 14.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Jockeys' room superintendent Dick Armstrong surveyed his domain here the other day and counted heads.
"A dozen," he grumbled. "Serious stuff. Let's hope we don't have a spill, or it would put us in real trouble."
Fears that a serious misadventure might leave the Northlands corps without enough jockeys were heightened this past week when Alex Ferris announced his retirement.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey Lisa Platts has long dreamt of winning a stakes. She will get her chance Sunday aboard Dana's Lucky Lady in the $164,550 Shady Well Stakes at Woodbine.
Dana's Lucky Lady is one of just three winners in the 5 1/2-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies, along with Inspired Magic and Boozin Blonde.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - England native Nicky Wright has been the leading apprentice around here for the past year and a half, and when she loses her bug on Aug. 8, she could be passing the baton to a fellow countrywoman, 18-year-old Emma Jane Abbott.
Their backgrounds are similar. Both worked in trainer Henry Candy's yard in Oxfordshire, England, before coming here, and Abbott, like Wright, went to horse racing school in that country. Wright went to the British Racing School, and Abbott is a graduate of the Northern Racing College.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Suntana will be the overwhelming favorite to win the restricted $20,000 North Dakota Derby going a mile on Sunday, and, unless someone goes with him early, he should romp.
As a race restricted to 3-year-olds made eligible through the North Dakota Thoroughbred Association, the North Dakota Derby represents a huge class drop for Suntana.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stablemates Wando and Mobil were kept apart on the road to the Queen's Plate. They ran one-two in the Plate with Wando the dominant winner.
They will now be going their separate ways again, with Mobil slated to run in next Saturday's Toronto Cup while Wando looks ahead to Fort Erie's July 20 Prince of Wales, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.
Wando and Mobil enjoyed a week off following the June 22 Queen's Plate, relaxing in separate enclosures outside trainer Mike Keogh's barn here, but they were back in training early this week.
PLEASANTON, Calif. - Favored Bartok's Blithe ($5) was last early but unleashed a strong quick to capture the Pleasanton Senorita Stakes at the Alameda County Fair on Thursday.
Bartok's Blithe, who won the $200,000 Melair at Hollywood Park two starts back, seemed to have the field measured in the one mile and 70 yard race. She beat Sanibel Sunset by one-half length in 1:39.34.
ELMONT, N.Y. - For the first time in seven years, Saturday's $500,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park will be run as a Grade 1 event. The nine-horse field assembled for the 117th running of the Suburban is befitting a race of such stature.
Four of the nine entrants are Grade 1 winners, and the other five horses have all finished third or higher in a Grade 1 event at least once. The Suburban, run at 10 furlongs, tops an 11-race card that also includes the Grade 3 Poker Handicap at one mile on turf.
