GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Lone Star Park has changed its strategy this year by moving the the Lone Star Derby out of the crowded prep season to a week after the Kentucky Derby.
The new approach, intended to attract a larger, more competitive field, has worked. Fourteen 3-year-olds have been entered in the 1 1/8-mile, Grade 3, $500,000 race, which will be run for the sixth time Saturday.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Cappuchino has a stride that eats up ground in a hurry, and that's what trainer Jerry Hollendorfer likes most about the well-bred colt, who looks like a major player Saturday in the Grade 3, $500,000 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park.
Cappuchino is one of three serious 3-year-olds managed by Hollendorfer, who also trains Preakness possibility U S S Tinosa, and Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby winner Yougottawanna.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As the euphoria of the 128th Kentucky Derby begins to wear off, trainer Bob Baffert is being repeatedly reminded that his third Derby winner, War Emblem, will be much more of a marked colt in the Preakness.
Persistent questions concerning the race shape of the Preakness, which will be run next Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., are beginning to come Baffert's way. Easily the dominant theme is whether the speedy War Emblem will be able to withstand the kind of sustained pressure that never materialized in his 20-1 upset of the May 4 Derby.
ELMONT, N.Y. - At first glance, it would appear that Saturday's $100,000 Bold Ruler Handicap would be a good opportunity to play against probable odds-on favorite Left Bank. He has not been out since last November, trainer Todd Pletcher plans to bring him back in the Metropolitan Handicap 16 days later, and six furlongs is not his preferred distance.
CHICAGO - It's too soon to say how high his ceiling is, but you can say this - Flying Dash is on his way to being one of the top 3-year-old turf horses in the country. Hawthorne Race Course scored a coup for its Hawthorne Derby when trainer Neil Drysdale chose Saturday's Grade 3 race for Flying Dash's next start. His six rivals in the nine-furlong grass race were not so fortunate. On paper, none can stop Flying Dash from winning his second stakes race since being imported from Europe.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Win City, Canada's Horse of the Year in 2001, will meet last year's champion older runner, A Fleets Dancer, and four others in the Grade 3, $161,400 Eclipse Handicap at Woodbine on Saturday.
Win City missed the board for just the second time in his career two weeks ago, when he finished sixth in his season debut, the Grade 3 Vigil Handicap.
Trainer Bob Tiller said Win City was handcuffed by the seven-furlong distance of the Vigil, and felt he should be more effective running 1 1/16 miles Saturday.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Saturday's $250,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint could turn into a match race even though six horses are entered.
But it would be an unusual match race, because the two main contestants will find themselves at the back of the pack early instead of blistering one another through fast fractions up front.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Pace figures to be a big factor in the outcome of Saturday's $35,000 Strawberry Morn Stakes at Hastings Park. Both Queen of My Nights and Grooms Derby like to be in front and how fast they go early will ultimately decide if any of the other six fillies and mares have a chance in the 6 1/2-furlong feature.
CALGARY, Alberta - Dance Me Free, champion of his division in Alberta last year and an impressive winner in his seasonal bow here at Stampede Park on April 27, heads a field of nine colts and geldings in Saturday's 34th running of the President's Handicap.
Dance Me Free, winner of three stakes in 2001 on his way to unanimous selection as top juvenile male, prevailed by a length over Sweet Drummer in the major prep for this $40,000 feature despite being in tight quarters at the quarter pole.
