ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Richard Mandella may be left with an empty feeling if he wins a turf stakes at Santa Anita this weekend.
Mandella has starters in several important stakes at Santa Anita over the next two weekends, but is not using all those races as a springboard to the World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.
ELMONT, N.Y. - King Cugat looms a heavy favorite in the Turf Classic Invitational, and England's Legend squares off against Starine and European star Lailani in the Flower Bowl Invitational in the two Grade 1, $750,000 Breeders' Cup preps at Belmont on Saturday.
Saturday's 10-race card also includes the Grade 2, $125,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap, featuring Dream Supreme and Dat You Miz Blue.
Fields were drawn for all three races on Wednesday because Belmont Park was to be closed Thursday in observance of Yom Kippur.
ELMONT, N.Y. - The six sprinters who meet in Friday's eighth race at Belmont Park, a $54,000 allowance, are not headed to the World Thoroughbred Championships, but they are an accomplished group in their own right, with 31 races won and $1.4 million earned among them.
Favoritism in the seven-furlong race figures to fall to one of two Richard Dutrow Jr.-trained runners. Dutrow entered Here's Zealous and Burning Marque and named John Velazquez on both, which means only one can run.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Shippers continue to drop out of Saturday's Arlington-Washington Futurity, compromising the quality of the prospective field but bringing hope to the connections of locally based horses.
At one point, Thunderello, a blowout maiden winner at Saratoga, appeared to be headed to the Grade 2 Futurity, where he would have been favored, but he bowed out with an injury, and Wednesday brought news that another Saratoga maiden winner, Test of Time, would not start here.
Fairmount Park has unveiled plans for an Illinois Breeders Day to be held Tuesday, Oct. 16. Six stakes restricted to Illinois-breds are scheduled for the day, each to carry a $35,000 purse.
"Since it is late in the meet it seemed like the best thing to have them all in one day" racing secretary Bobby Pace said. "We plan to acknowledge some of the people who helped us get House Bill 1069 passed as well."
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Heliotrope, last year's Sovereign Award winning champion turf female, has found a cozy spot in Friday's eighth race at Woodbine, a one-mile turf allowance for fillies and mares.
A field of nine was drawn for the $73,900 race, limited to nonwinners of $44,340 other than at a mile or over since Sept. 1.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Williams News will be a horse on a mission here in Sunday's $1.5 million,. Grade 1 Canadian International.
A 6-year-old gelding owned by On Target Racing Stable and trained by Tom Amoss, Williams News was the victim of an very tough beat when he ran second here in last year's Canadian International.
What made the defeat so painful was not merely the fact that the photo finish camera showed Mutafaweq's nose first on the wire.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Burlington House will be looking for his eighth win of the year in Friday's featured first race for $20,000 claimers at Assiniboia Downs.
Trained by Leonard Anderson, Burlington House finished second after lacking room through most of the stretch in his last start, on Sept. 16. Anderson Ward will ride in the six-furlong race, which attracted a field of five.
Latter Day Ace, who beat Burlington House last time out, did so off a six-week layoff. Trained by Gordon Marsh, Latter Day Ace should take up a stalking position under rider Tim Gardiner.
Friday night's featured seventh race, an allowance, has a full field of 11. The six-furlong dash is a first level allowance for a $32,000 purse.
There are many betting possibilities in the race with the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained entry of Mining for Fun and Swedish Sights a tepid choice. Mining for Fun won by a half-length in his only local appearance on Sept. 1 against a band of $32,000 starters. Swedish Sights disappointed last out in allowance company at Del Mar but raced strongly in his previous start finishing second at the seaside oval.
BOSSIER CITY, La. - Outofthebox, who gave trainer Bernie Flint his first Grade 1 win when he captured the $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs Sunday, was to be transferred to the care of Flint's son, Steve Flint, on Thursday. The transfer enables the younger Flint to set up a public stable after spending the past 22 years as his father's assistant. Steve Flint's chief clients will be Bertram, Elaine, and Richard Klein, who race Outofthebox.