VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The $35,000 Timber Music Stakes on Saturday is the first stakes of the Hastings Park meet for 2-year-old fillies. Six horses have been entered in the 6 1/2-furlong race.
Lil' Irish Annie looks like the one to beat. She made a strong move to beat Brave Miss by a neck in a six-furlong maiden special weight race June 30, and according to her trainer, Henry Miller Jr., she bled in that race. Miller worked her with Lasix Tuesday, and said she came back clean.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The connections of Startac will find out right away if a change of scenery brings about a change of fortune when their Grade 1-winning colt heads a field of nine entered in Saturday's $150,000 Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park.
Based on the West Coast for most of his career, Startac was trained by Simon Bray, who guided him to 4 wins from 9 starts, including a win in the Grade 1 Secretariat last August. Following that race, the horse was stunningly taken from Bray and given to Laura de Seroux, who ran Startac five times without success.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The prospect of running in a small field for lucrative prize money led to the supplemental entry on Thursday of longshots in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup and the $500,000 Swaps Stakes, both to be run at Hollywood Park on Sunday.
Dig for It, third in the 2001 Pacific Classic at Del Mar and the track record holder over 1 3/16 miles at Hollywood Park, was supplemented to the Gold Cup for $25,000. Gobi Dan, the winner of the California Sire Stakes for 3-year-old males on turf earlier at this meeting, was supplemented to the Swaps for $15,000.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Randy Schulhofer took over the training duties from his father, Scotty, at the beginning of the year, he said he felt a little pressure to continue the winning legacy his Hall of Fame dad had established.
So far, so he has handled the pressure just fine.
MIAMI - The last time trainer Howie Zucker ran a horse at Calder was in 1982. On Saturday, he will return to south Florida with Crafty C.T., the likely favorite in the $400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap.
"If someone told me I'd ever be coming back to Miami to run a horse in the middle of July I'd have said they were crazy," said Zucker, who spent several winters working at Gulfstream Park in the early and mid-1970's. He also spent a couple summers at Calder training a small stable of his own while also running trainer Ron Felix's shed row in the early 1980's.
MIAMI - Xtra Heat won't be the only fast filly shipping down from Maryland to compete on Saturday's Summit of Speed program at Calder. The other is a 3-year-old named Nice Boots Baby who heads a field of nine fillies in the six-furlong, $250,000 Azalea Stakes.
The Azalea is one of four races on the undercard of Saturday's $1.4 million Summit of Speed program. The others are the $250,000 Carry Back at six furlongs for 3-year-old colts and geldings, the $50,000 Rocket Man to be decided over a quarter-mile and the $50,000 Comet at five furlongs.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Action Tonight, winner of a division of the Texas Stallion Stakes, takes on some up-and-coming colts Saturday in the $89,100 Middleground Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park.
The six-furlong race for 2-year-olds drew a field of eight, including Worker Man, a $5,000 supplement, and impressive maiden winners Slam Bam and Flag Dancer.
MIAMI - The results of the July 4 Tom Fool Handicap at Belmont and last Saturday's Triple Bend Handicap at Hollywood Park point out Crafty C.T. as the horse to beat in Saturday's $400,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder. The six-furlong Smile Sprint is the co-feature, along with the Princess Rooney Handicap, on Saturday's $1.4 million Summit of Speed program.