AUBURN, Wash. - Sunday's $45,000 Federal Way Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs will provide the setting for round two of what figures to be a lengthy series of confrontations between Lasting Code and Strong Credentials, who currently rank as the top two 3-year-old fillies in the Northwest.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - John Simms is the latest trainer to join Team Schickedanz.
Simms, 53, will saddle Hugs for Terry on Sunday at Fort Erie. The filly will be his first starter for Bruno Schickedanz, who has been the leading owner at this track for the past five years.
Schickedanz has parted company with Layne Giliforte, who had trained his Fort Erie horses during the five-year run. Now, the Schickedanz's horses here are handled by two trainers: Simms and Ray O'Connor.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's annual 2-year-old in training sale is slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Woodbine Sales Pavilion.
The gallop show will take place on Woodbine's main track at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the pre-sale barbecue will be from 3-5 p.m. Thursday.
In a departure from recent years, the horses will be stabled at the receiving barn, just west of the grandstand, a building normally used for harness racing.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - See How She Runs, the Grade 2 Fantasy winner who is unbeaten in four career starts, shipped to Woodbine Race Course on Friday for the Grade 1, $250,000 Selene Stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds fillies is to be run May 20.
See How She Runs went from maiden winner to graded stakes winner in a matter of months, with all of her victories coming at Oaklawn Park between January and April. She has since worked twice at her summer base, Lone Star Park, and in her most recent breeze traveled five furlongs in 1:00.20 on May 4.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's George C. Hendrie Handicap was not the spot of choice for Ruby Park.
"I was actually aiming her for an allowance sprint, which we haven't been able to get," said Josie Carroll, who trains Ruby Park for owners Eugene and Laura Melnyk. "I was hoping to go from there to the Ballade," a six-furlong stakes for Ontario-sired fillies and mares here June 12.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Madame Roar rolled into Woodbine six weeks ago from her Maryland base, and embarrassed the locals with a front-running, six-length victory in the five-furlong La Voyageuse Handicap.
Madame Roar will try to turn the trick again, this time going 6 1/2 furlongs, in Sunday's $162,450 George C. Hendrie Handicap, a Grade 3 race for fillies and mares.
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.
