EDMONTON, Alberta - Saturday's 57th running of the $100,000 Speed to Spare will go without its defending champion, Rancour, who had been looking to this race to salvage this season.
"Something came up this morning," said Rancour's trainer, Ernie Keller, on Thursday, adding that it was not a career-ending injury. "Yesterday, he was just fine."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mark Casse entered five, including unbeaten Meghanmehappy, in Saturday's Grade 3 Natalma Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
The one-mile turf stakes attracted 21 entries, and was split into two divisions, each containing at least one sharp United States invader.
Meghanmehappy should be well backed in the first and stronger split, worth $169,200. She won her maiden on the main track with authority, and came from just off the pace on the turf to capture the seven-furlong allowance prep for the Natalma under Patrick Husbands.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - When Bold America starts Saturday in the Spectacular Bid Stakes, the 72-year-old trainer Richard Hazelton will drive to the track in his modest maroon pickup truck, no doubt wearing his trademark cowboy hat - probably the straw one.
Forty-five years ago, when Hazelton had another fleet 2-year-old, things were different. A colt of his had beaten up on Turf Paradise stock and was eligible for a $2,000 stakes purse there.
"I said forget about that," Hazelton said. "I bought me a suit and went to Hollywood."
DEL MAR, Calif. - Came Home, a six-time stakes winner this year and the upset winner of the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 25, may make his next start in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Arlington Park on Oct. 26.
Trainer Paco Gonzalez said the decision will be based on how Came Home trains in coming weeks. After the Pacific Classic, the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita on Oct. 6 was mentioned as his next start, but the timing has become a concern.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Had the 1 1/16-mile Fourstardave gone as scheduled at Saratoga on Aug. 24, Del Mar Show would have been nowhere near Woodbine this Sunday.
But heavy rain forced the Fourstardave off the turf, prompting trainer Bill Mott to look north to the $1 million Atto Mile for Del Mar Show, who races for the Allen Paulson Living Trust.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Noverre, the lone European representative and a leading candidate for Sunday's Grade 1 Atto Mile, got the worst of the draw here Thursday and will break from the outside post in the field of 13.
The Atto Mile, a $1 million turf race for 3-year-olds and upward, features eight invaders and five local runners.
Owned by Godolphin and based in England with trainer Saaed bin Suroor, Noverre will be ridden by Frankie Dettori and is Daily Racing Form's morning-line second choice at 7-2.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Saturday's scheduled running of the $60,000-added Autumn Leaves Handicap at Bay Meadows has been postponed.
Only four of the eight nominated fillies and mares entered the one-mile race on the main track. Since the race is an overnight handicap, Bay Meadows has the option of not running if too few horses enter.
But racing secretary Greg Brent said the race will be rescheduled for later in the meet, although a date has not been set.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Owner-trainer Gina Powell was so confident she would win Monday's Puss N Boots Stakes at Fort Erie with Get Down Wolfie that she wore a bikini under her blue outfit.
In 1996, owner Robert Elkins started a tradition when he dove into an infield lake following his victory with Dancing for Beans in the fifth running of the Puss N Boots. Since then a member of the winning party, usually the jockey, takes a dip.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - After a painful two weeks of heavy traffic and demolition derbies, horseplayers can breathe a sigh of relief that the Pacific National Exhibition is over and look forward to the best part of the Hastings Park racing season. Serious money will be up for grabs in the next two months and it all starts this Saturday with the $175,000 Breeders' Cup B.C. Oaks.
If Lady Shari, who is based at Woodbine and has earned close to $450,000, can handle another cross-continental flight she will be tough to beat Saturday.
Zip First, the only Quarter Horse to win three graded futurities this year, will go for his fourth futurity victory in the Grade 1, $315,000 Sam Houston Futurity on Saturday night.
Zip First, trained by Leon Bard, won the Grade 2 Manor Downs Futurity and the Grade 2 Longhorn Futurity in Texas this spring. The gelding went to Ruidoso Downs and won the Grade 1 Ruidoso Futurity and was second in the Grade 1 Rainbow Futurity.