JAMAICA, N.Y. - In the last 10 years, the Remsen Stakes has produced two Kentucky Derby winners, a Preakness winner, and the multiple Grade 1 winner Skip Away.
Come Saturday afternoon, someone will have visions of roses dancing in their head after nine 2-year-olds go in the $200,000, Grade 2 Remsen Stakes for juvenile colts at Aqueduct. The Remsen, run at nine furlongs, is one of three stakes on the last big day of racing of the year in New York.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - The promising Proxy Statement, undefeated in two starts, gets her first important test in Saturday's $200,000 Demoiselle at Aqueduct.
The waters get significantly deeper for Proxy Statement, who makes her stakes debut and her first start around two turns while facing seven other 2-year-old fillies in the Grade 2 Demoiselle.
JAMAICA, N.Y. - Last fall, coming off two Breeders' Cup wins and a Preakness victory in the spring, Joe Orseno was being mentioned as the likely winner of the Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding trainer.
And even when Bobby Frankel edged him in the voting, Frankel was quoted as saying that Orseno deserved to have won.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Highland Legacy defeated Devil Valentine last fall in the prestigious Coronation Futurity, and was crowned champion 2-year-old at year's end on the strength of that victory. But circumstances have changed dramatically this year. Devil Valentine has evolved into one of the top Canadian-bred 3-year-olds at Woodbine, and will be odds-on in his rematch with Highland Legacy in the Sir Barton Stakes at Woodbine.
Only two others, Indian Dan and Ruff Tuff Stuff, entered the 1 1/16-mile race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds, worth $125,125.
Wayne's Princess, who ran third against male rivals in her last start, returns to racing against fillies in the $25,000 Miss Houston Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
The seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds has drawn eight others, including Point Gained, a half-sister to Horse of the Year contender Point Given who makes her first start since finishing seventh as the favorite in the $100,000 Silver Spur Stakes at Lone Star Park on July 15.
MIAMI - Castlebrook, whose four stakes victories this season have all been around two turns, turns back to 6 1/2 furlongs Saturday in the $60,000 U Can Do It Handicap at Calder.
Castlebrook became the leader of the local filly and mare division when she won four stakes within 2 1/2 months, from June 25 through Sept. 15. Three of those victories came at 1 1/16 miles and the other at a mile. A poor start cost Castlebrook, a daughter of Montbrook, her best chance in her last appearance, the Shocker T Handicap on Oct. 13.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Clarks would be proud. Churchill Downs founder M. Lewis Clark and his legendary ancestors, explorers William and George Rogers Clark, surely would approve of how opposing trainers are searching for ways to defeat Include, the top-weighted favorite in the 127th running of the Clark Handicap on Friday.
"How are we going to beat him?" asked Steve Flint, trainer of one of Include's main challengers, Outofthebox. "I don't have a clue. I'm just going to bring my horse over and hope he does his best."
JAMAICA, N.Y. - In the past two months, trainer Shug McGaughey has retired multiple graded-stakes-winning fillies Country Hideaway, Serra Lake, and Finder's Fee. He expects the void left by their absence to be filled by Atelier.
Already a multiple Grade 3 winner, * seeks her first Grade 2 victory in Friday's $150,000 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct. McGaughey will also send out Cat Cay in the one-mile race that drew a field of nine.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Before the three-day, $2.1 million Autumn Turf Festival at Hollywood Park picks up any steam, it starts slowly Friday. Likewise, the main contenders in the Grade 3 Hollywood Turf Express - Swept Overboard and Nuclear Debate - will languish early and fly late.
