EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - One young and lucky runner is going to get a big payday Friday night in the $75,000 Morven Stakes at the Meadowlands.
With so few chances to try a 2-year-old on the grass, the five-furlong dash has brought together a rag-tag group of 10 colts and geldings from all over the mid-Atlantic region.
None in the field has a stakes victory and there are two maidens in the group, but the supplemental nominations of Dr. Gold and Deeliteful Guy give the field some luster.
Leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer holds a powerful hand in the Friday's featured seventh race. He will saddle Most of All and Ghostly Valley in the $32,000 allowance at six furlongs, which is for fillies and mares.
Most of All has the most experience of the Hollendorfer pair but Ghostly Valley appears to be the one to beat Friday. Ghostly Valley has made only one start, winning a maiden race here during the San Mateo Fair.
Ghostly Valley set the pace in her debut and then lasted by a head. She has been training steadily since that race.
ANDERSON, Ind. - For the second straight year on Friday, the reigning Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies champion will run in the $200,000-added Indiana Breeders' Cup Oaks at Hoosier Park.
This year it's Caressing, who tops a field of nine 3-year-old fillies in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks. Cash Run, the 1999 BC Juvenile Fillies winner, finished fifth in this race a year ago.
The Indiana Oaks has earned Grade 3 status this year, and its purse includes $50,000 for Breeders' Cup eligibles.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington's Friday feature offers about everything you would want in a horse race - good horses, a full field, and a long list of legitimate contenders. But weather wet enough to move this turf sprint to the main track would change all that and further damage the program, since the co-featured sixth is also an allowance race on turf.
There's a new player in the Mid-South. Delta Downs in Vinton, La., will offer a record $125,000 a day in purses for its upcoming fall Thoroughbred meet, which puts the track in a position to compete for horses with neighboring Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. The new purse structure also allows Delta Downs to lure lower-level claimers from Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
MIAMI - Any doubts that trainer Steve Klesaris may have had about Booklet adapting to the local climate and racetrack were erased Wednesday morning when the 2-year-old worked five furlongs in 1:01.60 in preparation for the $400,000 In Reality Stakes on Oct. 13. His black-letter clocking matched that of the older stakes winner Just Listen on Wednesday's work tab.
Booklet is apt to be the slight choice against the undefeated Carey's Gold in the 1 1/16-mile In Reality, the final leg of the open division of the Florida Stallion Series.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Both attendance and handle at Assiniboia Downs showed increases at this year's 76-day live meeting, which ended Sept. 30.
The handle on the live races was up 8 percent to $10,074,462 for an average of $132,558 per day. Attendance rose to 147,150 from 140,927, an average of 1,936 patrons per day.
On the racetrack, jockey Rohan Singh and trainer Ardell Sayler successfully defended their titles.
Singh won six races on the closing weekend to finish with 82 victories. Tim Gardiner was second with 72 wins, followed by Alan Cuthbertson with 71.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The classy Julie's Witt should be tough if she runs her best race in Friday's $60,000 Woodbine headliner.
A field of six fillies and mares will line up in the $100,000 optional claimer, which will be run at 6 1/2 furlongs on the grass.
Ontario Debutante Stakes winner Platel heads another feature on the card, a 5 1/2-furlong allowance for 2-year-old fillies, which has also attracted Muskoka Stakes winner Miss Noire.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - I and I, winner of the Simcoe Stakes at 2 and runner-up in three stakes last year including the Queen's Plate, will be offered for a $32,000 claiming price when he makes his first start of the season at Woodbine Friday.
In fact, I and I has been race-ready for months but had not been allowed to start until a case regarding his ownership was resolved.
Wellesley Clayton had been listed as the trainer and sole owner of I and I, but Diana Yeboah had claimed she had an interest in the horse.
There were several highlights over the weekend at the Fairmont Park, starting with Mike Gale's four winners Friday night. Gale is Fairmount's leading active jockey with nearly 1,800 wins. Gale kicked off the evening by winning both halves of a $33.40 daily double, with Penny One ($6.40) in the first and Adams Peak ($6.20) in the second. Gale then took the sixth aboard Delaneyimoutahere ($4.40) and the 10th with Rainbow's Rally ($5.40).