LINCOLN, Neb. - Lincoln's State Fair Park opens for 34 days of racing Friday with the track's 1,005 stalls allotted and nearly filled for the early summer meet.
One of the biggest changes at the meet will be the strong presence of trainers David Anderson and Marv Johnson, both of whom have brought large strings here after being primarily based in Iowa or Minnesota the past two years.
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Anytime a rider suffers a major injury in a nasty spill horsemen and fans alike will be watching when he returns, looking to see if he still has what it takes. Michael James, who broke his right femur in an accident at Fairmount Park last October, he has answered that question and then some.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - There won't be an abundance of trifecta or superfecta wagering at Bay Meadows on Friday night.
Only 46 horses were entered on the eight-race card that includes one four-horse field and four races with only five starters. Six starters are needed for trifecta wagering.
Two of the other three races attracted seven entrants, and one, an $8,000 maiden sprint, has eight, which will allow for one superfecta. Superfectas require eight entrants.
The problems filling races are tough enough on weekdays and are exacerbated on Friday nights.
Trainer Donna McArthur's strong stable, which is headed by Corona Kool, the top-ranked horse in Quarter Horse racing, has three promising juveniles in the Grade 1, $361,000 Kindergarten on Saturday night at Los Alamitos.
The 300-yard Kindergarten is the season's first futurity on the West Coast. A $1 million bonus goes to any horse who can win the Kindergarten, the Ed Burke Memorial Futurity (July 27), and the Los Alamitos Million (Dec. 13).
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Hallowed Dreams, who was forced to miss the Victoria Lass Handicap at Fair Grounds in March because of colic, is working sharply for her return to the races, which is expected to come May 27 in the $100,000 Valid Expectations Stakes at Lone Star Park.
Last year, Hallowed Dreams won the six-furlong race for fillies and mares in her first start outside of Louisiana. She returned to Lone Star a month later and won the $75,000 Miller Lite Stakes, which is another summer goal for the mare.
For a track that went dormant for over two years in the mid-1990's, Canterbury Park is now doing quite well - thanks to their ace in the hole.
Clearly, the saving grace at the Shakopee, Minn., track, which on Friday evening opens for its 16th season of live racing, has been the Canterbury Card Club. Opened in April 2000, and located on the first floor of the track's five-story plant, the 50-table card club not only has improved the bottom line for the track, but also has significantly improved purses.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park, coming off what was perhaps its most successful season since the racetrack was purchased by its current ownership in 1994, opens for its 16th season of live racing Friday evening.
The 62-day meeting is expected to offer full fields and the mid-level claimers that have become the staple of Canterbury's racing program. But track officials admit that it will be hard to match last year's handle and attendance without the Claiming Crown, the meeting's biggest day of racing for the last three years.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Burlington House returns in less than a week and will face four other $20,000 claimers going five furlongs in Friday's first race.
Second behind Kalfaari in last Saturday's allowance feature, Burlington House will be making his second start of the meet and fourth this year. Burlington House won two starts ago over $11,000 claimers at Stampede Park and last year won 7 of 12 races.
Anderson Ward will ride Burlington House from post 2 for trainer Wendy Anderson.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Exciting Story, victorious in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont last spring, is among the 13 entrants in Friday's feature, the first turf event of the Woodbine meet.
The $80,900 allowance is the prep for the May 25 Connaught Cup Stakes, but because of all the recent rain in the Toronto area, and with more in the forecast this week, it is questionable whether the seven-furlong dash will stay on the grass.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Anglian Prince will be well under the sonar coming into Saturday's Marine Stakes at Woodbine.
But that's just fine with his trainer, Mort Hardy, who has watched Anglian Prince go off at 30-1 or better while competing in the first three stakes stops on the Queen's Plate trail for owner Leonard Prussky.
"Since last fall, the Queen's Plate's always been my plan," said Hardy, who sent out Anglian Prince to win his maiden over 1 1/16 miles of sloppy going in his sixth and final start as a 2-year-old. "I've always thought he was a nice horse."