PHOENIX - She's giving away experience - having run five races while the others in the field have each run more than 16 times. And she's giving away maturity, at age 3, while the others in the race are older.
Still, Salty Helen has the speed to be the favorite and win Saturday's City of Phoenix Handicap at Turf Paradise.
The $30,000 feature, the ninth on a 10-race card, is run at six furlongs, and it drew a field of eight.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Affirmed Success, who is being pointed to the $1 million Breeders' Cup Mile, worked a bullet five furlongs on Thursday morning over the Belmont Park turf.
With the dogs up, and over a course listed on the work tab as firm, Affirmed Success was timed in 1:01.02, breezing, the fastest of six works at the distance.
Even though the turf was listed as firm, it's probably still holding plenty of moisture from the heavy rains that have hit the area in recent weeks.
MIAMI ? T V Sports Director and Built Up renew their rivalry, in a full field of 3-year-olds in Saturday's $50,000 Needles Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the Calder turf.
Despite the presence of T V Sports Director and Built Up, both of whom are stakes winners over the local course this season, the Needles is anything but a two-horse race. The talented and well-matched field also includes Flamingo Stakes runner-up Tour of the Cat, graded stakes-placed Mr. Notebook, and multiple turf winners Vikadontis, With Magic, and Diablo Reigns.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - When Greenbaypacker arrived at Hastings Park this spring, trainer Allan Jack thought that he would be a stakes horse, like Mike K and Ball and Chain already in his barn.
So far it hasn't worked out, although Greenbaypacker finished third to divisional leader Lord Nelson in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes July 21. That was Greenbaypacker's last start, and he'll try to get back on track when he faces six other horses in a $25,000 optional race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday.
EDMONTON, Alberta - The memory of longtime Edmonton horseman Freddy Jones, who died of cancer less than a year ago, will be celebrated at Northlands Park on Monday, Thanksgiving Day.
A major allowance for 2-year-old fillies will be named the F.D. (Freddy) Jones Memorial.
Freddy Jones, who had horses who won both the Alberta Derby and the Canadian Derby, came from a racing background.
Freddy's father, Davey Jones, rode in Cuba for a time and later campaigned a racing stable in Alberta in the summer and British Columbia in the fall.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - With victories in the Breeders' and Wonder Where under her belt, Sweetest Thing is ready to test the waters south of the border. Sweetest Thing, a 3-year-old filly owned by her trainer, Roger Attfield, in partnership with Mickey Canino and Bill Werner, won last Saturday's Wonder Where with plenty in reserve.
VANCOUVER, B. C. - It took a while for apprentice Nicola Wright to get her North American riding career started, but once it began she wasted no time making her presence felt.
Wright, a 24-year-old native of Wales, rode for the first time at Hastings Park on Sept. 29 and won with her second mount, guiding the Darryl Snow-trained Quins Return wire to wire against $5,000 fillies and mares.
Wright returned Sunday and brought the Michael Turner-trained B. B. Bunny from far back to score a $23.80 surprise in the day's sixth race.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Janet, the upset winner of the $500,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes on Sept. 29, may start in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 27 despite previous comments to the contrary by her connections.
Trainer Darrell Vienna said Thursday that owners Jed and Roberta Cohen must pay a $90,000 supplemental fee to make Janet eligible and not the maximum of $200,000. The victory in the Yellow Ribbon was worth $300,000.
"The sire was nominated, so it's a more reasonable penalty," Vienna said.
One of the few things working against Ceeband in Saturday's $100,000 California Sprint Championship at Bay Meadows is the race's six-furlong distance.
Ceeband is already a graded stakes winner, having won the Grade 2 Triple Bend Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park in July, and is trained by John Sadler, who is having a strong year. Plus, he will be ridden by top jockey Russell Baze.
But the California Sprint Championship, restricted to state-breds, may be too short for Ceeband, Sadler fears. All of his five career wins have been over 6 1/2 and seven furlongs.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - It was five years ago in the Phoenix Breeders' Cup Stakes that Forest Wildcat won by a length over Valid Expectations, with Bet on Sunshine third.
On Saturday, while Forest Wildcat has 3-year-olds and Valid Expectations has 2-year-olds in training at racetracks across North America, the 9-year-old gelding Bet on Sunshine will race in the Phoenix for the fifth time, a reign of longevity that Keeneland officials believe is a record.