ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey shoots for his fifth win in the Frizette on Saturday with Matron winner Storm Flag Flying, the 7-5 favorite at the close of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies future book bet.
Storm Flag Flying will be favored among seven 2-year-old fillies in the $500,000 Frizette, one of three Grade 1 Breeders' Cup preps on the Belmont Park program.
ANDERSON, Ind. - The Swifty Farms partnership of Don and Dana Myers has a twofold interest in this year's Indiana Derby. Swifty Farms, which is located in Seymour, Ind., not only is the breeder of Pass Rush - who is now owned by Michael Tabor and trained by Patrick Byrne - but also is part-owner of Wiseman's Ferry with Morton Fink and Lee Sacks.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Even trainer D. Wayne Lukas is a little curious about what would happen if Orientate races against Xtra Heat. That fascinating matchup was tentatively scheduled to take place Saturday at Keeneland in the Phoenix Stakes, but with the soggy remnants of Hurricane Lili apparently headed for Lexington this weekend, Lukas decided against entering Orientate.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - John Edwards spent 34 years as a detective with the Vancouver Police Department, and the investigative techniques he learned on the job have served him well as an owner of racehorses, particularly when it comes to claiming them. Along with his wife, Dawn, John Maloney, Mark and Lionel Lesage, and Grant MacDonald, Edwards is part of Aurora Stables. One of their most successful claims, Full Scream Ahead, figures to be one of the favorites in the Grade 3 $175,000 Ballerina Breeders' Cup on Sunday.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - The California Horse Racing Board has told Bay Meadows to cancel its $15,000 Trainer Challenge, which would have coincided with the racing dates of the Big Fresno Fair. The board ruled that only fairs can hold such contests.
The California State Fair in Sacramento has run a trainers' contest, as did the Bay Meadows Fair in August. The purpose of the contests are to entice trainers to race at specific meets.
PHOENIX, Ariz. - There are sports teams that get knocked because they do just enough to win. So do some horses.
But the important thing is the "W," and when Channing Way runs in Saturday's $30,000 City of Phoenix Handicap it won't matter to her backers or connections that she seldom leaves much margin for error. The important thing is that the 4-year-old filly wins races, lots of them.
Trained by Dan Morgan and owned by Lawrence Becker, Channing Way has won 9 of 14 going into Saturday's six-furlong race, which attracted 11 fillies and mares.
Nine 2-year-olds will meet in Saturday's $102,000 Ron and Jess Cloud Memorial Handicap at the Big Fresno Fair in Fresno, Calif..
The race, whose purse includes $52,000 donated in memory of the Clouds by their family, is the richest run at a California fair.
Recent maiden winner Omega Code, who graduated in his second career start as a 1-5 shot at Fairplex on Sept. 22, and Onebadshark, unraced since winning a July 14 maiden race at Vallejo, are the probable favorites.
Omega Code was favored when he ran second to Bull Market in his debut on July 24 at Del Mar.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Round One for Saturday's $100,000 California Sprint Championship at Bay Meadows went to El Dorado Shooter.
He drew post 5 in the six-furlong sprint for California-breds that includes four speedsters and one closer.
"I'd like to get on the outside," said Cliff Delima, the trainer of El Dorado Shooter, before the race was drawn Thursday.
"It all comes down to post position," said Jeff Bonde, Menacing Dennis' trainer, prior to the draw.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The realistic Breeders' Cup hopes of Congaree and D'wildcat this year are limited to the $1 million Mile.
Congaree has not been effective beyond 1 1/16 miles, eliminating him from consideration for the Breeders' Cup Classic over 1 1/4 miles. D'wildcat was a disappointment as a sprinter in the spring and summer, leading to a midyear transfer to turf.
Both start in Saturday's $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile on turf at Santa Anita, trying to justify trips to the Breeders' Cup Mile at Arlington Park on Oct. 26.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Off a lone maiden win at Del Mar the first day of the meet, Bull Market was made the tepid favorite seven weeks later in the closing-day Del Mar Futurity. But he could not bookend the meet with victories, and a poor start and his own overeagerness conspired to send him to defeat.
Now, at a new meet, a new distance, and with an equipment change, Bull Market will attempt to get his arrow pointing up again when he starts in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.