EDMONTON, Alberta - Of the many story lines during the Alberta Fall Classic at Northlands Park Saturday, none was more noteworthy than the performance of jockey Quincy Welch.
He rode three winners in the seven stakes on the card and had two second-place finishes to end the day with close to $100,000 in purse winnings.
Welch rode his first winner in the third race, on favored Jiffyjimmygee in the $40,000 Alberta Premier's Futurity for 2-year-olds.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Dennis Hopkins can thank a mule for the presence of Green Team in his barn.
Green Team, a stakes-placed Harris Farms homebred, figures to be one of the favorites in Wednesday's Bay Meadows feature, a six-furlong $40,000 optional claimer.
Green Team is one of the first Thoroughbreds Hopkins has trained for Harris Farms, one of California's top breeding and racing operations.
"I started with Harris three years ago," Hopkins said. "I started with a mule, Southern Preacher."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mulligan the Great, Praise from Dixie, Jab, and Estonia, all nominated to Sunday's Grade 3 Highlander Handicap, have shown up in Wednesday's $72,200 Woodbine feature for 3-year-olds and up.
Lakefield rounds out the five-horse field in the $80,000 optional claimer, which will be run at six furlongs.
FRANKLIN, Ky. - Although none of the 37 horses who competed Saturday in the four-race Kentucky Cup Turf Festival at Kentucky Downs appears headed for the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup, the event was a success, horsemen said, because it filled several key niches on the racing calendar.
Even before Cetewayo finished fourth as the favorite in the richest race of the day, the $300,000 Turf, trainer Michael Dickinson said the race fit his horse perfectly, considering the lack of other high-dollar, lower-level graded races at a marathon distance at this time of year in North America.
POMONA, Calif. - Warren's Whistle, a three-time stakes winner at Fairplex Park, will gun for her fourth Fairplex stakes on Friday when she wheels back in the $100,000 Las Madrinas Handicap. Warren's Whistle won the $50,000 Pio Pico Stakes for the second straight year last Friday, rallying inside to defeat longshot pacesetter Always the Lady by three-quarters of a length. Warren's Whistle, who also won the 2000 Black Swan Stakes at Fairplex, will stretch out from 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles for the Las Madrinas.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Canadian International proceedings are officially under way, now that Paolini and Zindabad have checked in from Europe for Sunday's Grade 1, $1.5 million turf showpiece for 3-year-olds and up.
Paolini, based in Germany with trainer Andreas Wohler, arrived late Sunday afternoon from Frankfurt along with Bianca Sieling, assistant to Wohler, Vaclav Moravec, an exercise rider, and Ingrid Hornig, a veterinarian.
SALEM, N.H. - Amid speculation that this will be the final season at Rockingham Park, the track closed its 2002 meet with marginal increases in total handle but declines in attendance.
Rockingham's average daily handle for the 75-day meet was $561,000 - up less than 1 point from 2001. Ontrack handle slipped nearly 8 percent, but offtrack handle for the meet rose 5 percent. Average attendance slipped 5 percent to 2,772.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Grand, a 2-year-old colt who was purchased by Barry Irwin of Team Valor Stable after a 23-length win on the dirt at Wolverhampton, England, on Sept. 7, is slated to make his next start at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Grey Stakes on Oct. 6.
"If he pulls off the Grey Stakes, we'll supplement him to the Breeders' Cup," said Irwin, who was at Woodbine on Sunday to watch Added Edge, an undefeated 2-year-old in whom he owns a controlling interest, win the Swynford Stakes.
POMONA, Calif. - Taliano, who ran last in his debut on Aug. 31, improved a lot in his second start, scoring a $17.80 upset in the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile. Ridden by Danny Sorenson in the stakes restricted to 2-year-old colts and geldings offered for sale at Barretts, Taliano won by three lengths over even-money favorite Elan.
Taliano was purchased for $52,000 at the May sale of 2-year-olds in training. Charmer Baron finished third in the field of five.
Robin Zee ($12.40) drew off through the stretch for an easy four-length score in the $75,000 Prairie Meadows Derby.
The 9-5 favorite, Cowboy Stuff, set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile event, clocking a half-mile in 46.90 seconds. Robin Zee, trained by Jimmy Zook, moved up to challenge on the last turn before drawing away for the biggest score of his career, clocking the distance in 1:48.42.
Cowboy Stuff held second, three lengths clear of Windward Passage, who rallied for third.