ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Queen's Plate prospects Wando and Quiet Dare will meet going 1 1/16 miles at Woodbine Saturday in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Wando, one of the leading Canadian-bred 2-year-olds of 2002, has made both of his starts at six furlongs this year. He finished a neck behind longshot Majestic Wisdom second, in the Achievement Handicap, and then won the open Woodstock Stakes, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 98.
Maryland-based Ben Feliciano had good luck shipping Crossing Point to Mountaineer Park two weeks ago for a $75,000 stakes. So Feliciano is thinking about trying to duplicate the formula.
Feliciano has entered Crossing Point and stablemate Sassy Hound in Saturday's $75,000 Waterford Park Handicap, a six-furlong sprint. Both horses are cross-entered in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Maryland Breeders' Cup on the Preakness undercard.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Picture Gallery has been slow to live up to her potential, but she will get a chance to prove her worth Saturday in the $35,000 Drumtop Handicap at Suffolk Downs.
Picture Gallery races for Patricia Moseley, Suffolk Downs's chairwoman, and she's entered in a race named after one of the foundation mares of the Moseley family's racing and breeding operation.
Picture Gallery comes into this 1 1/16-mile stakes on a two-race win streak and appears to be back in top form. She won three straight here at this time last year.
As a 2-year-old, Balmy showed so much potential that trainer John Servis was prepared to put her into a graded stakes in only her second lifetime start. A series of mishaps not only derailed those plans but also left Balmy near death.
Although Balmy recovered, she went 16 months and six starts - including her entire 3-year-old season - without winning a race.
Trainer Luis Palacios has a right to feel confident about Saturday's $50,000 Tomboy Stakes at River Downs, as he will saddle three major contenders in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies. Fourteen were entered for the Tomboy, though a maximum of only 12 can start.
LINCOLN, Neb. - Leaping Plum has raced only once at Lincoln's State Fair Park but he put his name in the program permanently that day in 1995, and only one horse has come close to replacing him as the track-record holder at 4 1/2 furlongs.
And Leaping Plum will meet that horse, Mr Clearwater, and 2003 Fonner Park sprinter-of-the-year Tonight Rainbow in Saturday's $10,000 Speed Handicap.
Mr Clearwater equaled Leaping Plum's 4 1/2-furlong track mark of
LAFAYETTE, La. - Lota Prince, 2 for 2 over the Evangeline oval, tries stakes company Saturday night for the first time, when he heads a large and competitive field in the inaugural running of the $35,000 B.B. "Sixty" Rayburn Stakes.
The one-mile Rayburn for Louisiana-bred 3-year-olds is named in honor of the longtime Louisiana state senator and racing advocate.
Lota Prince, owned by Jimmie Hatcher and trained by Sam Breaux, flirted with winning his maiden early in the year at Fair Grounds, before making his first start here April 12.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Six Minnesota-bred colts and geldings will run in the 10,000 Lakes Stakes at Canterbury Park, a six-furlong race for a $35,000 purse that features the return of last year's horse of the meet, J. P. Jet, in a face-off with last year's Minnesota Sprint Championship winner Crocrock.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Cowboy Stuff will be a heavy favorite facing six rivals in Saturday's $60,000 John Wayne Stakes for Iowa-bred colts and geldings at Prairie Meadows.
Cowboy Stuff, a 4-year-old son of Evansville Slew trained by Don Von Hemel, cuts back to a sprint in the six-furlong John Wayne after dueling through a fast pace and finishing second, beaten a length, as the 4-5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile, $100,000 Bosselman Handicap at Fonner Park on April 26.
AUBURN, Wash. - Silk N Diamonds will get another chance to make her Emerald Downs debut in Saturday's 6 1/2-furlong feature, a $50,000 optional claiming race for 3-year-old fillies.
Silk N Diamonds was slated to start in last Sunday's Federal Way Handicap. She made it as far as the paddock, but reared and fell, prompting the state veterinarian to scratch her.