ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike Mattine has been waiting all year to run Santerra around two turns, and will finally get the opportunity in Sunday's $250,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Woodbine.
A field of eight was drawn for the 1 1/16-mile race, which is the definitive test for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Barbara Heads and her older brother Robbie Anderson have always been close, but that doesn't mean she doesn't enjoy beating him when they're running horses against each other. They had a pretty good sibling rivalry going earlier in the year with two very good older mares, Always a Dixie and Grey Tobe Free. Heads had the edge there, with Always a Dixie beating Grey Tobe Free three times at Emerald.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Paul Attard certainly didn't take long to make a name for himself as the latest member of the family training fraternity at Woodbine.
Attard, the 20-year-old son of trainer Sid Attard, connected with his first starter Thursday when Penthouse Prince, owned by Goldmart Farm, romped to a 5 3/4-length score as a 17-1 outsider in a field of 11 maiden 2-year-olds.
"He'd showed me a little bit of speed, and he was good at the gate," said Attard. "It wasn't a huge surprise, but the way he did it surprised me."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A full field of 11 2-year-old fillies will line-up in the $40,000, 1 1/16-mile Fantasy Stakes Sunday at Hastings Park, but the entry of Aquita and Chorus Dancer, trained by Robbie Anderson and owned by Linwood Stables, stands out and will likely take most of the action.
Aquita won her maiden in the $106,000 Sadie Diamond Futurity in her last start and figures to be even better going a middle distance. She's a half-sister to Sophie J, who won 9 of 13 starts, including the nine-furlong Ballerina as a 3-year-old.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Northlands Park will schedule extra races over the holiday weekend to make up for the loss of Wednesday's card, which was canceled because of unusual track conditions.
Sunday's program will have 11 races instead of the typical eight.
Racing secretary Fred Hilts said he will offer six extra races Monday, headed by the sixth running of the $75,000 Canadian Juvenile at 1 1/16 miles.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Calling them the royalty of their class does them little good, but there are far more tangible rewards at stake for the nine fillies set to clash Saturday in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
First off, there is the $500,000 purse. And then there's the Grade 1 ranking. And then there's the nearly industry-wide consensus that the winner of the 1 1/8-mile QE II should be instantly recognized as a leader within the 3-year-old filly turf division.
ARCADIA, Calif. - A string of longshots on Thursday produced a carryover of $289,934 for Friday's program at Santa Anita.
There was an $82,000 carryover going into Thursday's program, which proved to be tricky. The winners of the pick six races were Bright Victory ($6.60), Casting Call ($11.40), Luzern ($10), Debonair Joe ($56), Lasting Tribute ($35.60) and Ordained Magic ($16.20).
Friday's pick six covers the third through eighth races. There are no scratches in the pick six. Several of the races have large field.
ELMONT, N.Y. - On the surface, Saturday's $150,000 Lawrence Realization Handicap looks like a grudge match between Chiselling and Finality. But, if the surface is a wet Belmont Park Widener Turf course, the Grade 3 race could become a more wide-open affair.
A field of 10 was entered for the Lawrence Realization, the final turf stakes restricted to 3-year-olds run this year in New York. Chiselling defeated Finality in the Grade 3 Lexington at 10 furlongs here in July while Finality turned the tables on his rival in last month's Grade 2 Jamaica at nine furlongs.
MIAMI - Thomas Heard Jr. never lost faith in Lawbook even after the colt, whom he owns and trains, lost the first six starts of his career. Now Lawbook can become part of Florida Stallion Stakes history if he can defeat 13 other 2-year-olds and complete a sweep of the open division of the series Saturday in the $400,000 In Reality Stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Following a two-win afternoon Thursday, Todd Pletcher is tied for leading trainer at this meet with Richard Dutrow Jr. Pletcher, who already has won the Belmont spring and Saratoga titles, enters a stakes-filled weekend as New York's second-leading trainer in stakes won for the year.
Pletcher will participate in all four stakes on this holiday weekend, with legitimate contenders in at least three of them.
