VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It's hard to predict which 3-year-old filly will be favored in the 1 1/16-mile Liberation Stakes Sunday at Hastings Park. Seven of the nine horses in the race are stretching out for the first time, and the two horses with the best form this year - Classic Action and Elana D'Amour - drew disadvantageous outside post positions.
AUBURN, Wash. - I'madrifter has arrived from California to take on seven local stars in Sunday's one-mile, $75,000 Budweiser Emerald Handicap at Emerald Downs.
I'madrifter, a 4-year-old son of Slewdledo who races for owner Dan O'Neill, arrived here Thursday night with trainer Steve Specht. The bay colt was resting in trainer Junior Coffey's barn on Friday morning, and Specht planned to take him to the track for light exercise on Saturday before racing him on Sunday.
ELMONT, N.Y. - With showers falling throughout Friday and more in the forecast for the weekend, Sunday's $100,000 Sands Point Handicap for 3-year-old fillies scheduled for turf is in jeopardy of being moved to the main track for the second consecutive year.
The uncertainty over the weather combined with a lack of a standout on either surface explains why a full field of 14 was entered in the Grade 3 race run at nine furlongs.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Crowned Dancer is making it difficult for trainer Chris Paasch to curb his enthusiasm. "He is a scary horse," Paasch said of the 2-year-old.
Crowned Dancer's dazzling stakes win three weeks ago - he earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 92 - established the colt as California's leading juvenile. But wait, it's only June. "It's early in the year," Paasch admitted, "and I'm sure between now and the Breeders' Cup, there will be a lot of nice 2-year-olds."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It was right about this time a year ago that trainer Steve Morguelan got the bad news: His stable star, Leelanau, was going to the sidelines with a tendon lesion.
Leelanau, a Carson City colt, had been so impressive winning the Kentucky Breeders' Cup Stakes in track-record time that John T.L. Jones Jr. bought part-ownership in him from David Clark. Not long after that, the tendon injury was diagnosed, and Leelanau headed off to Jones's Walmac International for a long rest.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The course condition could play an important role in the outcome of Sunday's Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile King Edward Breeders' Cup Handicap at Woodbine.
If he runs, Quiet Resolve should be favored off his authoritative win here three weeks ago in the Grade 3 Connaught Cup Stakes, in which he relished the extra-firm footing.
But Quiet Resolve abhors soft turf, and there is rain in the forecast for the Toronto area this weekend and ground on the soft side is a possibility Sunday.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Kevin Krigger, an 18-year-old apprentice jockey, reached a couple of milestones on Thursday at Hollywood Park.
He scored his first three-win day at a Southern California track when he won aboard Potrithreat ($8.40) in the fourth race, Luna Joe ($20.40) in the fifth race, and Caveolin ($23.60) in the seventh. Caveolin also gave Krigger his first victory in a turf race at 1 1/2 miles.
"I just felt blessed yesterday," he said on Friday, after climbing off a horse during morning training. "The horses ran good. The races were put together for me to win."
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Things aren't that complicated when it comes to racing Jake the Flake.
"You put him on a van, he gets where he's going, and he runs his heart out," said trainer Hal Wiggins.
That is the plan this weekend when Jack Murphy and Pam Slaughter's Jake the Flake invades Arlington from Wiggins's base at Churchill Downs.
"My son and daughter are up there now," Wiggins said. "They'll be waiting for him."
OCEANPORT, N.J. - When 8-year-old Esteemed Friend dropped down to the $35,000 claiming level at Aqueduct on Jan. 17 - the second-lowest level of his career - there were many takers. Anthony Pyliotis, a New England-based owner, won the shake, and Esteemed Friend has since returned to a level reminiscent of the form he showed in winning the Grade 2 General George Handicap at Laurel in 1999.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - John Little and Sea of Tranquility are Grade 3 winners and the best New Jersey-breds stabled at Monmouth. They are also widely considered the best handicap horses on the grounds. A fitting matchup would be in a Grade 2 or Grade 3 for older horses. Instead, the two will square off for the first time on Sunday in the $50,000 Jersey Breeders' Handicap for statebreds at one mile.