SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Four Alberta ship-ins are among the field of seven for Saturday's $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby, one of the highlights of the Marquis Downs meeting.
The purse for the 1 1/16-mile Saskatchewan Derby was doubled just last weekend to help ensure a large and competitive field, and the move seems to have paid off.
The probable favorite is Choktow, who was an impressive winner of his maiden race by 8 1/2 lengths in the mud at Stampede Park this spring.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Big R will be the one to beat as he faces four rivals at Assiniboia Downs in Saturday's $20,000 North Dakota Stallion Stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile feature is for 3-year-olds eligible through the North Dakota Thoroughbred Association.
Owned and trained by Ralph Buchholz, Big R won the restricted North Dakota Futurity at Assiniboia in his only start as a 2-year-old.
After experiencing life as the big fish in a small pond, jockey Clinton Potts was poised to make a big career move. He had just finished the 2000 season with 368 winners, second in the country behind Russell Baze. Potts was also the dominant rider at Penn National Race Course.
As the calendar turned to 2001, Potts was already making plans to ride full time at Delaware Park as soon as the track opened in the spring. Six weeks into the new year, however, Potts's plans were derailed.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Iowa-breds Sharky's Review and Sumthintotalkabout, both multiple stakes winners, head a field of six fillies and mares in Saturday's $40,000 Iowa State Fair Stakes at Prairie Meadows.
Sharky's Review, last year's 3-year-old Iowa-bred filly of the year, enters the six-furlong State Fair Stakes off a closing fourth-place finish in the $125,000 Iowa Distaff at 1 1/16 miles here on July 6.
Last year, Unrullah Bull backed up trainer Cole Norman's contention he was one of the best horses he had ever claimed when he registered his first stakes win in the Ark-La-Tex Handicap at Louisiana Downs.
This year, a win in Saturday's $50,000 Ark-La-Tex at the Bossier City, La., track, would be pure gravy for Unrullah Bull.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - When War Emblem rejoined the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational field last Saturday, there were only three other definite starters. At the draw Thursday, the field was up to nine. Although three horses are cross-entered in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga the same day, War Emblem has not scared any opponents away come Sunday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bettors on Thursday will have a pick six carryover of $125,908 to chase on an eight-race program at Del Mar.
The pick six covers the third through eighth races on a program that begins at 2 p.m. It could be a competitive pick six. No morning-line favorite is listed at shorter than 5-2.
There are no changes in the third through fifth race. In the sixth race, Run Rate is scratched along with Mary Moscow, Garden in the Rain, and Golden Sands. Milicia draws in from the also-eligible list.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Bob Baffert has had a stranglehold on the Graduation Stakes since the race went to 5 1/2 furlongs in 2000.
On Wednesday, for the third consecutive year, Baffert won the sprint for California-bred 2-year-olds, scoring with Icecoldbeeratreds, who led throughout and won by 3 1/2 lengths.
The time of 1:03.27 set a stakes record but the race has only been run over 5 1/2 furlongs for the last three of its 51 runnings. It was previously run over six furlongs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Dallas Stewart can't be blamed if he still has nightmares about the 2001 Test Stakes and the sight of Nasty Storm rearing at the start before rallying to finish third behind Victory Ride and Xtra Heat.
Stewart is hoping Nasty Storm will have a little better racing luck on Friday when she takes on six other older fillies and mares, including likely favorite Gold Mover, in the $100,000 Honorable Miss Handicap at Saratoga.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Any doubts about whether Mayakovsky will be on his toes coming off a four-month layoff and turning back to six furlongs for Saturday's $150,000 Amsterdam Handicap at Saratoga were erased in 46.18 seconds here on Wednesday morning. That's the time it took for the powerful-looking Mayakovsky to work a half-mile in preparation for the first in what trainer Patrick Biancone hopes will be a series of four races leading up to the Breeders' Cup Sprint.
