NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - A short field and the presence of Ifufeelfroggyleap has prompted track management to run the $30,000 Emerald Necklace Stakes as a nonwagering exhibition race.
The race, for Ohio-bred 2-year-old fillies, drew only five, including three maidens. Ifufeelfroggyleap has won two stakes.
Ifufeelfroggyleap has won three of her five starts, including the six-furlong Loyalty here and 5 1/2-furlong Tah Dah at River Downs. Her maiden win came going 4 1/2 furlongs at Arlington Park.
Sea of Tranquility is a New Jersey-bred who has had 52 starts, only six of which have come at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. Of those six races, however, Sea of Tranquility has won four of them, including the 2000 Marfa Stakes and its prep race.
Saturday, fresh off a victory in the Sept. 4 prep, Sea of Tranquility will go for another Turfway victory when he starts from post 12 in a full field of older horses in the 17th running of the $75,000 Marfa.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - The field of seven Manitoba-bred 3-year-olds for Saturday's $35,000 J.W. Sifton Stakes at Assiniboia Downs includes three maidens and leaves much to be desired.
Beau Pip, who was beaten 34 lengths while finishing last in the Harry Jeffery Stakes, should be favored in the 1 1/8-mile Sifton.
Trained by Raymond Liu, Beau Pip's lone win came in the restricted Manitoba Stakes four starts ago but he finished fourth in both the Derby Trial and Manitoba Derby before the Harry Jeffery. Beau Pip will break from post 4 under Juan Crawford.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Win City, Canada's reigning horse of the year who is winless in seven 2002 appearances, will not see action again this season.
"I don't want to get into specifics on that matter," said Bob Tiller, who trains Win City for owner Frank DiGiulio. "He's gone to the farm. He won't race again this year."
Win City had been entered in the allowance prep for the Durham Cup here last Sunday but was a vet scratch.
In his last start here, on Sept. 2, Win City had tried turf for the first time in his career and finished a nonthreatening ninth.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Shippers Tails of the Crypt and Salt Grinder are the big guns in the 57th renewal of the Grade 2, $200,000 British Columbia Derby on Saturday at Hastings Park. The 1 1/8-mile derby drew 13, and Boomslang will need a scratch in order to run.
The locals are headed by Shacane and Silver Donn, who finished one-two while separated by a nose in the Richmond Derby Trial.
Iowa-bred Cowboy Stuff and graded stakes winner Windward Passage head a field of 10 entered in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Derby.
Cowboy Stuff, a son of Evansville Slew, has won 6 of 9 starts this year, including four stakes. Three of those stakes wins came against statebred company but Cowboy Stuff proved he could beat open rivals with a two-length gate-to-wire victory in the Round Table at Arlington on July 27 at the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Prairie Meadows Derby.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Several trainers will have to choose between the $150,000 Violet Handicap, Friday's feature at The Meadowlands, and Saturday's $100,000-added Noble Damsel Handicap at Belmont Park, for their filly and mare turf runners.
The Grade 3 Violet drew a field of 12, plus four also-eligibles. Nine of the horses in the main body of the race are also nominated to the Grade 3 Noble Damsel, which was to be drawn Thursday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel wasn't overly upset when Sightseek lost her second career start after making such an auspicious debut.
"I didn't want her to be undefeated anyway, there's too much pressure," said Frankel, who believes Sightseek has star potential.
On Friday, Frankel may feel the pressure of the bettors, who figure to make Sightseek a short-priced favorite in an entry-level allowance race at Belmont that goes as the second race on a nine-race card. The 1 1/16-mile race drew a field of eight.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Banks Hill, whose electrifying 5 1/2-length victory in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont Park vaulted her to an Eclipse Award, will most likely make her final prep for this year's Breeders' Cup in the Grade 1, $750,000 Flower Bowl Invitational here on Sept. 28.
Speaking from France, trainer Andre Fabre said Banks Hill would run in either the Flower Bowl or the Grade 1, $500,000, Yellow Ribbon at Santa Anita Oct. 5, depending where she could run over the firmest turf. Fabre said his preference would be to run in the Flower Bowl.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Coming out of a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Secretariat and into a third-level turf allowance, Extra Check figured to be settling into a winning spot. But Extra Check may only be the second most talented 3-year-old turf horse in Arlington's Friday feature. Trainer Paul McGee entered Honor in War, a powerful five-length winner of a comeback race here Aug. 11, in Friday's one-mile race, which also showcases the grass debut of the unbeaten Illinois-bred Boom City.
