ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dream Launcher, perhaps the hottest older runner at Woodbine, heads a 10-horse field in Saturday's Grade 3 Woodbine Slots Cup, a 1 1/16-mile event formerly named the Autumn Handicap.
Dream Launcher, victorious in the 2001 Victoria Park Stakes, took a while to win this year. He finished third in the Grade 3 Eclipse Handicap in May, and probably would have won his third-to-last outing, in an optional claimer, had he not been boxed in for most of the race.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Jamie Clarke didn't have much to boast about last year, his first as a full-time trainer. He won just twice in 36 starts.
"I only had four [horses] and they were bad," said Clarke, a 34-year-old Fort Erie native who is doing much better here this year.
With a win on Monday and another on Tuesday, Clarke has moved into a 14th-place tie in the 2002 standings. He heads into the final week of the meet Saturday with a record of 16 wins from 72 starts and with expectations of lifting his winning percentage of 22 even higher.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Saturday's second annual Ladies' Night brings together 11 female riders from the Midwest to compete in a series of five races.
The riders receive points based on their mounts' finishes in the five-race series. With just 10 starters allowed, the rider who sits out a race will also have a chance to pick the horse she would have preferred to ride and earn points on the horse's finish. There is no grand prize for the winning rider but each participant receives a trophy.
"It's really just about the competition," said director of publicity Tammy Knox.
ANDERSON, Ind. - Saturday's $100,000 Hoosier Debutante has lured several promising runners, but nobody in the nine-horse field has ever won a race of this value.
The Debutante, carded as the fourth of 11 races, leads into the second annual Hoosier Ladies' Night Female Jockey Challenge, which begins with the fifth race. The Challenge brings together a group of 11 female riders from the Midwest to compete in five races.
East Boston, Mass. - The pipeline producing strong stakes runners for owner Manfred Roos and trainer John Rigattieri is still flowing as Farmer Inthe Dell seeks his second stakes win of his young career in the $30,000 Tony DeSpirito Stakes for 2-year-olds Saturday.
Roos and Rigattieri have campaigned top-notch regional stars for many years, but the past three seasons they have been particularly strong with homebreds Stylish Sultan and Sunlit Ridge. Farmer Inthe Dell appears poised to continue the streak in the final open stakes race of Suffolk's autumn meet.
ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Greg Gilchrist is hoping that the old Beyond Brilliant will show up in Saturday's $60,000-added Albany Handicap at six furlongs. Or even the new one.
New or old, Beyond Brilliant will have to be at his best in what promises to perhaps the deepest sprint stakes in northern California this year.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Whata Brainstorm, a multiple graded stakes winner who has made just three starts in the last 20 months, returns to action Friday in a 1 3/8-mile turf allowance race at Aqueduct.
Whata Brainstorm may not be the fittest, but he is certainly the most accomplished among the nine entrants in the $58,000 race. Three horses were entered for the main track only.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A potential rainstorm on Friday night should not keep Bills Paid from giving a top effort in the seventh race at Hollywood Park.
The race is scheduled for 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, but a storm could force a shift to the main track. Bills Paid is proven over either surface.
A 4-year-old, Bills Paid finished third in the San Miguel Stakes and Baldwin Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita in 2001. The San Miguel was run on a fast track and the Baldwin was run over a sloppy track after the race was moved from the turf.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Veteran trainer Blackie Huffman wanted to ease Roxelana back into her racing career, and the feature race Friday at Churchill Downs fits that plan perfectly. The $58,200 allowance race is a spot that permits Roxelana to dodge bullets she would have faced Saturday in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Distaff. She will be heavily favored to take down the winner's share against this much softer field.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stakes winners Tails of the Crypt and Barbeau Ruckus are among the six runners in Friday's $89,000 feature, which is a prep for the Sir Barton Stakes.
Open Concert, Mind Body Soul, Recite, and Malmaison will also compete in the 1 1/16-mile classified allowance for 3-year-olds.
