Cowboy Tough, who has taken his game to another level since he started racing on turf on a regular basis, must beat seven others, including a pair of 9-year-old grass specialists, Sunday in the $30,000 Brother Brown Handicap at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Otro Mambo, defending champ in the five-furlong turf race, and Caro's Royalty, a two-time winner of the $100,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint, are both 9, and are the most accomplished entrants in the Brother Brown.
ANDERSON, Ind. - A field of six Indiana-bred and -sired males, 3 and up, face off in Sunday's $40,000-added William Henry Harrison Stakes at six furlongs to conclude a busy weekend, which featured both the Indian Oaks and Derby.
Three-year-olds Imageofhope, Restitution, and Indy Energy will be trying to show up their elders in this spot as they return off allowance wins.
Crowned King, who lost his rider when he stumbled at the start of the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Juvenile in his last race, returns home Sunday for the $30,000 Minstrel at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.
The 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds drew a field of eight, including Zydeco Affair, who returns to dirt after winning the $100,000 El Joven on turf at Retama Park.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bay Meadows planned to run two stakes Sunday, the Time to Leave Stakes and the Autumn Leaves Handicap.
Only the Autumn Leaves, a $60,000-added race for fillies and mares, will be run.
Only five 2-year-old fillies entered the one-mile Time to Leave, and one was on the vet's list, forcing a postponement of the race. Bay Meadows officials hope to run it next Sunday.
The Autumn Leaves was in a similar position when originally scheduled on Sept. 7. It did not draw enough entries, but racing secretary Greg Brent brought it back Sunday, and it filled.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Veteran jockey Calvin Borel will ride this winter at Fair Grounds instead of Oaklawn Park, where he has been a leading rider since the early 1990's, agent Jerry Hissam said Friday at Keeneland.
Hissam said Borel is switching to Fair Grounds, the New Orleans track that begins a four-month meet Nov. 28, "because of the way our clientele has shifted. We've got a lot more business there."
Borel will ride the entire five-week fall meet at Churchill Downs, which runs through Nov. 30, before heading to Fair Grounds to begin riding Dec. 5.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Jockey Heberto Castillo Jr. suffered a large laceration on his forehead when his mount, A Moment in Dixie, ducked through the rail during the stretch run of the final race at Belmont Park on Friday.
A Moment in Dixie, who had the lead when she bore in sharply and broke through the portable rail on the Widener turf course, was euthanized after suffering extensive trauma to the left side of her neck.
It appeared that Castillo was struck by a trailing horse.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Elana d'Amour could wrap up horse of the year honors in British Columbia with a win in Sunday's $175,000, Grade 3 Ballerina Breeders' Cup Oaks. It would be her sixth stakes win at the meet, including a 1 1/2-length win in the B.C Oaks. With a record like that, she should also be given national consideration for a Sovereign Award.
Given that she's the sixth foal out of a mare that has produced only two cheap winners, it's hard to believe that she has turned out to be this good.
CHICAGO - These last two weeks have been a transition period for Arlington Park. The Oct. 4 opening of Keeneland, with its astronomical purses, has lured many Midwest trainers to Kentucky, and between Sept. 29 and Oct. 25 the racing schedule here includes all of one stakes race, the $75,000 Manila on Oct. 12.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Macho Uno gave the Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes continent-wide recognition when he won it in 2000, before capturing the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in his next start.
This year's running of the Grade 2 Grey, worth $273,500, is also a legitimate BC Juvenile prep, with the connections of Wando, Gigawatt, and Grand all eyeing that race, to be run on Oct. 26 at Arlington.
MIAMI - Ivanavinalot has dominated the competition in each of her last two starts, winning the Susan's Girl Stakes by 10 lengths and the Brave Raj by five in her two-turn debut.
Trained by Kathleen O'Connell, she is ranked third on Daily Racing Form's list of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Filly contenders.
But despite Ivanavinalot's imposing presence, she has not scared away the competition for Saturday's $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes, finale of the filly division of the Florida Stallion Stakes.