VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It's hard to figure who will be favored in the 6 1/2 furlong Spring Sprint Stakes at Hastings on Saturday. Ball and Chain, King Jeremy, and Kid Katabatic have all been sharp preparing for their first outings this year while I'm Free and Diglett are coming off of less than stellar efforts in the George Royal Stakes April 28.

CALGARY, Alberta - Grovenor, a beaten favorite in her last start here after rearing at the break, heads a field of nine fillies and mares in Saturday's featured sixth race at Stampede Park.

The abbreviated card of seven races shares the spotlight with the simulcast of the Preakness Stakes from Pimlico, which will follow the final live race on the program.

Grovenor will be making her fourth start of the meet for trainer Floyd Arthur, and trying to rebound after losing all chance at the start against similar company May 3.

BALTIMORE - There are several reasons to take a stand against probable favorite Snow Ridge in Saturday's $200,000, Grade 3 Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap, one of seven stakes on the Preakness undercard.

First, Snow Ridge is coming back just two weeks after running a demanding race in the Churchill Downs Handicap, finishing first but disqualified to second when jockey Mike Smith inadvertently hit D'wildcat in the face with his whip one step from the wire.

BALTIMORE - Mark Frostad heads back to Woodbine in the spring after wintering at Fair Grounds and then racing at Keeneland, but he is not afraid to take on the best in the United States when he has the ammunition. And he has arrived at Pimlico Race Course with the only weapon he can get past security on Saturday.

Frostad sends out the lightly raced but talented Strut the Stage in the $200,000 Dixie Handicap, a Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile turf race that goes as the 10th on the 13-race Preakness Stakes card.

Listen Here has not been able to handle graded stakes company this year, so he is dropping into a softer spot and shortening up to six furlongs in the $100,000 Hirsch Jacobs Stakes, for 3-year-old sprinters, the ninth race on the card.

Listen Here has lost four straight since beginning his career with three victories. He most recently was third in the Withers Stakes, a race in which Shah Jehan was second.

You could say Shah Jehan looks like a million bucks, but you would still be $3.4 million in the red. The 3-year-old colt, who cost $4.4 million at auction two years ago, looked like a bust earlier this year, when he ran last in consecutive stakes races at Santa Anita.

Since leaving California, though, Shah Jehan has begun to look like a top colt. After capturing an allowance race at Keeneland and finishing second in Aqueduct's Withers Stakes, he will be a strong favorite to get his first stakes victory in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes.

When Political Attack and Mr. O'Brien met in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland last month, they pressed each other through fast fractions, setting the race up for the late-running Flying Dash.

If those two horses go at each other again early in the $100,000 Woodlawn Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf, the beneficiary could be the D. Wayne Lukas-trained February Storm.

A field of 13 was entered for the Grade 3, $100,000 Gallorette Handicap for fillies, with the three top contenders drawing outside posts.

Trainer Christophe Clement entered two horses in the race, with the Irish-bred Siringas looking the stronger of the two. She will break from post 10 under Edgar Prado.

BALTIMORE - Bowman's Band, runner-up in the Grade 1 Oaklawn Park Handicap, has an excellent chance to notch his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 3, $100,000, William Donald Schaefer Handicap at nine furlongs.

Bowman's Band is 4 for 7 lifetime, with two of his losses coming in graded stakes and another coming to the graded-stakes winner Dream Run in an allowance race. In the Oaklawn Park Handicap, Bowman's Band pressed a solid early pace and was game to hold second while finishing 4 3/4 lengths behind Kudos.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Rusty Arnold doesn't underestimate the task at hand, but is approaching Saturday's $200,000 Shuvee, where he will run Victory Ride, with a sense of confidence.

The Grade 2 Shuvee, a mile dirt race at Belmont, drew five fillies and mares.

Raging Fever, a winner of three stakes this year and undefeated at Belmont in four starts, is the 121-pound highweight.

Also entered is Two Item Limit, who was third in last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff here at Belmont. Two Item Limit probably needs more than the mile to be at her best.