AUBURN, Wash. - Sunday's Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile took an intriguing turn on Friday morning when Redattore, the 123-pound highweight and certain favorite for the 67th Mile, drew post 11 in the 12-horse field.
Only Bolulight, who won the 1992 Mile, has been successful from the 11 post and only Coldwater, who won the inaugural Mile in 1935 from post 12, has been successful from farther out in the gate.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Grey Tobe Free looks like a standout in the $35,000, 1 1/16-mile Senate Appointee, but it will be hard to choose a favorite in the $35,000, 6 1/2-furlong Lassie Stakes on Sunday at Hastings Park. The Senate Appointee drew only four horses and will go as the first race, while the Lassie drew a full field of 11 2-year-old fillies and goes as the seventh of 13 races.
AUBURN, Wash. - Any objective handicapper who studies the past performances for Sunday's Longacres Mile will quickly conclude that Redattore is the best horse, just as his 123-pound highweight assignment suggests.
Redattore, a 7-year-old Brazilian from the barn of recently inducted Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, won last year's Grade 1 Eddie Read Handicap, and he is coming off a sharp third to Sarafan and Beat Hollow in this year's Eddie Read. Those two reversed order last weekend, when Beat Hollow came back to win the Grade 1 Arlington Million, with Sarafan second.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Chris Loseth and Hastings Park were made for each other. Loseth, who has an excellent chance of notching his 200th Hastings stakes win on Sunday, is the perfect rider for the just-over-five-furlong oval.
In order to be successful riding at a smaller track, a jockey needs to be aggressive, and Loseth has been riding that way since he got started in 1974. He's been the leading rider at Hastings Park eight times and is the all-time leader in wins here with 2,671 going into the weekend. His 199 stakes wins also tops the all-time list at Hastings.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bragging rights are at stake as Kalookan Queen and Go Go, two of the top sprinting females in the nation, meet for the fifth time in Sunday's $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar.
In four meetings over the last 14 months, each has finished in front of the other twice. Go Go and Kalookan Queen were 1-2 in the Desert Stormer Handicap at Hollywood Park in 2001, while Go Go won the 2001 A Gleam Handicap with Kalookan Queen only fourth.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Milwaukee Brew is a millionaire with something to prove in Sunday's $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar.
A 5-year-old with two major stakes wins in Southern California this year ? the Santa Anita Handicap and Californian Stakes ? Milwaukee Brew is seeking to restore his reputation after a third-place finish in the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 14.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Advancing Storm and Wild Snitch have been raising eyebrows since winning their maiden races impressively 18 days ago, but the the top two 2-year-old fillies here at Monmouth Park have to yet cross paths. But that soon will change.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Neil Howard kept his word.
Though Howard said he didn't have the stock worthy of stabling at Saratoga for the entire six weeks, he said he would ship in at least one horse to run. That horse will be Quick Tip, who arrived in Saratoga from Chicago last Tuesday to run in Monday's $100,000, Grade 3 Glens Falls Handicap.
"I told you I'd make an appearance," Howard said Friday from Arlington.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Consistency and a competitive spirit appear to be the common denominators among the six fillies and mares who will clash Sunday in the $39,000 feature race at Arlington Park.
The six-furlong race attracted such hard-trying sprinters as Savannah Hanna, Emily Ring, and Dare She Goes, all of whom have earned numerous paychecks besides the winner's shares that have brought them to the threshold of breaking through this third-level allowance condition.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher and his veterinarian on Friday said they may never know the exact reasons why two of Pletcher's horses died within eight days of each other, or if the deaths are even related.
Pletcher lost two top horses when Freedom's Daughter, a stakes winning 2-year-old filly, died on Aug. 12 because of a disease called colitis X, Aand Warners, a talented 3-year-old colt, died on Aug. 20 from laminitis.
