STICKNEY, Ill. - Comeback horses, horses with no turf form, recent claimers - welcome to the wonderful melting-pot world of the first-level allowance at a mid-level racetrack.
It's Hawthorne's world on Sunday afternoon, when 12 one-other-than fillies tangle in a full field in the ninth race, a one-mile grass race. Various types of horses are represented, and the sum of their parts is - confusion.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When Alec Fehr took over as private trainer for Knob Hill Stable this January, his horses included Thornfield, who was Canada's Horse of the Year in 1999.
Thornfield, owned and bred by Knob Hill principals Steve and Sally Stavro, had earned that title, plus Sovereign Award honors as champion turf horse, after winning the Grade 1 Canadian International.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - Jockey Martin Ramirez is back exactly where he was last year on June 9, the day a broken wrist ended his season.
He's at the top of the rider standings here at Fort Erie, and he is performing some of the same heroics he was performing back then.
On May 13, 2001, Ramirez won four races on the program. Last Sunday, he repeated that feat.
Counting his three other victories last week, Ramirez went into Saturday's card leading all riders with 14 winners, three more than Neil Poznansky in second place.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Timely Ruckus and Robnroy, the one-two finishers in last year's G. Sydney Halter Stakes, return to Assiniboia Downs on Sunday for the 2002 running of the $30,000 Halter at 5 1/2 furlongs.
Trained by Ernie Keller at Stampede Park, Timely Ruckus will be making his fourth start of the year. A 9-year-old son of Bold Executive, Timely Ruckus won an allowance race in his seasonal bow and finished second in the Stampede Park Sprint Championship in his most recent try, May 4.
Jacques DesAutels will be aboard Timely Ruckus, who breaks from post 2.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Buddha is not the only good 3-year-old in trainer James Bond's care this season. The Bond-trained Legislator is undefeated on turf, and will attempt to remain that way Monday when he starts in the $200,000 Diamond "A" USA Stakes at Lone Star Park.
The 1 1/16-mile turf race is one of seven stakes that will make up Lone Star Million Day, which is the richest program of racing in Texas.
LINCOLN, Neb. - Sunday's $10,000 Speed Handicap at 4 1/2 furlongs should live up to its name with a full field of 10, plus one more on the also-eligible list, ready to flash their one-turn speed over this five-eighths-mile oval.
Delux Fantasy, a 4-year-old owned and trained by Herb Riecken, has been comfortable running one condition above his eligibility this year, winning both of his starts by daylight. A winner of three races in five career starts, Delux Fantasy defeated nonwinners-of-four allowance company in his last out here, on May 17.
AUBURN, Wash.- Lasting Code, the top 3-year-old filly in the Northwest, with four stakes victories from five career starts, arrived in the barn of her new trainer, Bob McMeans, on Thursday after being purchased by Jerre Paxton's Northwest Farms for an undisclosed sum.
Lasting Code, a daughter of Lost Code and Cajun Nite who was purchased for $24,000 at the 2000 Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association summer yearling sale, raced for the British Columbia-based partnership of Ole Nielsen and Lola McCarthy through her first five starts, which netted $96,065 in earnings.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The first 2-year-old stakes for fillies is more than seven weeks away, but trainer Dana Smith has the July 13 date of the Timber Music Stakes highlighted on her calendar. Smith is the trainer of Alittlebitgrumpy, who won a maiden special weight race in 39.99 seconds Wednesday evening.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It may be only Memorial Day weekend, but Azeri already has a firm grip on the nation's older filly and mare division.
This year, Azeri has won two Grade 1 races, both on dirt: the Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap at Santa Anita in March and the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on April 6. She makes her first start since the Apple Blossom on Saturday in the $200,000 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park against five other older fillies and mares.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Last year was just the second time since 1975 that the Peter Pan did not produce at least one starter for the Belmont Stakes. Saturday's 49th renewal of the Peter Pan, which drew a field of eight, is expected to have a bigger impact on the third leg of the Triple Crown.
Two - and perhaps as many as four - horses entered in the nine-furlong Peter Pan could use the $200,000 race as a prep for the Belmont on June 8. Since being reinstated in 1975, the Peter Pan has produced five Belmont winners, most recently Lemon Drop Kid in 1999.
