MIAMI - Trainer Marty Wolfson will have all bases covered, no matter what surprises the weatherman provides. Wolfson has five of the 14 entrants for Saturday's $40,000 Solo Haina Stakes on the turf.
Team Wolfson consists of Coolbythepool, Banderia, Stay Forever, Bail Money, and Abuela Esther for the 1 1/8-mile Solo Haina. It is likely, though, that only Banderia, Stay Forever, and perhaps Bail Money will start if the race goes as scheduled on the grass.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Prince of Wales victor Le Cinquieme Essai will be at Woodbine Sunday to contest the $100,000 Labeeb Stakes, a mile race on the turf. His trainer, Paul Nielsen, hopes a victory over older runners will earn Le Cinquieme Essai a Sovereign Award as champion 3-year-old colt or gelding in Canada.
Le Cinquieme Essai, a gelding, has won 4 of 5 starts this year. His loss came in Woodbine's Colonel R.S. McLaughlin Handicap, in which he finished last as the highweight. Nielsen blamed the loss on Le Cinquieme Essai displacing his tongue.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sam Son Farm's Catch the Ring has struggled this season, going winless in six starts.
But her trainer, Mark Frostad, is hoping she will find her way back to the winner's circle here in Saturday's Grade 3, $197,750 Maple Leaf Stakes, the same 1 1/4-mile race that she won to end her 2001 campaign.
In a race that will most likely be the last of her career, a victory by Catch the Ring in the Maple Leaf would boost her career earnings above $1 million.
Ruling Star, who has won all four of his starts this meet at Louisiana Downs, climbing the class ladder with each race, will try to become a stakes winner Saturday in the track's $30,000 Excalibur.
His task will not be easy. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds drew a competitive group, including stakes winners Richest Half and De Real Deal, as well as the talented Ole Rebel.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Julie Krone, the world's leading female rider, launches a comeback at Santa Anita on Friday, following a retirement of 3 1/2 years. A member of racing's Hall of Fame, Krone is booked on one mount - Justly Royal, a 2-year-old first-time starter, in Friday's fifth race. The race is run for fillies over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The $1.325 million California Cup at Santa Anita has typically been a season-ending goal for owners and trainers, as well as a chance to prove that their statebreds are among the best in the state.
This year, owner Wes Fitzpatrick and trainer Ian Jory are taking a different approach. They are starting Continental Red in Saturday's $250,000 California Cup Classic as a springboard to a newly created $1 million race on dirt in the Sunshine Millions at Gulfstream Park in January, a series that pits Florida-breds against California-breds.
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Father Steve and Abduction, two horses whose connections thought they would be well past the second-level allowance condition by now, will attempt to clear that hurdle Friday going one mile at Aqueduct.
Father Steve, a $900,000 son of Pulpit, bucked shins after winning his maiden in his second start last October. He didn't make it back to the races until July when he won a six-furlong entry-level allowance race at Belmont. In his next start, Father Steve skipped a condition and finished third versus third-level allowance runners.
STICKNEY, Ill. - Less than a week ago the Breeders' Cup swept through Chicago, bringing the world's best racehorses to Arlington Park. The shift in scene could hardly be more radical, as Chicago racing returns Friday to Hawthorne in heavily industrialized Stickney, where it remains for the rest of the season.
The surroundings may not attract an international audience, but Hawthorne has its place in the regional scene. Urban Hawthorne is easier for city folks to reach than suburban Arlington, and local horsemen find it easier to reach the winner's circle here.
Sam Houston Race Park has finally landed a national event. The track, which made a pitch for the Breeders' Cup a few years ago, didn't get the Cup, but it has been chosen to host the inaugural National Thoroughbred Racing Association Great State Challenge during its 80-day meet that opens Friday night and runs through March 30.
"It's going to be great exposure for us in the city and on a national level," said Bob Bork, president of Sam Houston in Houston, Texas.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Will a new star be born when Century City makes his U.S. debut in Sunday's $100,000 Bay Meadows Derby for trainer Beau Greely?
Century City, a $2.2 million yearling at the Goffs Sale in Ireland in October 2000, was purchased in June by Tom Nichols and Greely's brother, John IV, for an undisclosed amount from Michael Tabor and Susan Magnier.
