SAN MATEO, Calif. - Swept Overboard, who has been racing well versus the top sprinters in Southern California, looks like a standout when he heads a field of four in the Grade 3, $150,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint on Saturday.
Among Swept Overboard's three foes is Lexicon, who won this race last year and is coming off a solid effort in classified allowance company at Del Mar. But the others, Riotous Richie and You and You Alone, seem badly overmatched.
ELMONT, N.Y. - If Fleet Renee is as good off a 10-week layoff as she was here in June off an eight-week freshening, she should win Saturday's Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap at Belmont Park.
When last seen at Belmont, Fleet Renee ran the race of her life to win the Grade 1 Mother Goose by 5 1/2 lengths. Although she hadn't run in eight weeks, her time of 1:47.19 was the second-fastest clocking for the Mother Goose in 43 runnings at nine furlongs.
ELMONT, N.Y. - If you add together the frequent-flyer miles accrued by the eight runners in Saturday's $500,000 Man o' War at Belmont Park, the number would be staggering.
The field has made starts in Canada, Dubai, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and the United States.
The Grade 1 Man o' War, a weight-for-age race, will be run at 1 3/8 miles on the Widener turf.
Xtra Heat and Big Bambu, two of the fastest female sprinters on the East Coast, will meet for the first time in Saturday's $150,000 Endine Stakes at Delaware Park.
The Grade 3 Endine highlights a 12-race Owners' Day card with cumulative purses of $650,000. The undercard includes a pair of $75,000 stakes, the George Rosenberger Memorial on turf for fillies and mares, and the Owners' Day Handicap for 3-year-olds and up on the main track.
A change of plans by trainer Tom Voss has landed Grade 1 winner John's Call in Saturday's $100,000 Bald Eagle Breeders' Cup Handicap at Pimlico, rather than the $500,000 Man o' War at Belmont Park, the same day.
Voss chose the one-mile Bald Eagle over the 1 3/8-mile Man o' War, a Grade 1, because it's an easier spot for 10-year-old John's Call, who is looking to rebound from finishing ninth and last in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga on Aug. 12.
John's Call, the 122-pound highweight, will be the favorite in the nine-horse Bald Eagle field.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Still licking his wounds after a thrashing in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special, Lunar Bounty races again Saturday at Arlington - the site of his authoritative debut win - where he will be favored to win the $75,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes.
The Spectacular Bid, at six furlongs, is a stepping-stone to the meet's premier race for 2-year-olds, the Grade 2, one-mile Arlington-Washington Furturity, which would be Lunar Bounty's next start with a good race Saturday.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Del Mar rose above the climate of increasingly poor economic news, setting a record for average daily overall handle, and showing a gain in ontrack attendance for its 43-day meeting, which ended Wednesday.
Del Mar averaged $12,055,415 per day in handle, up 3 percent from last year's $11,736,073. The ontrack attendance was up sharply, by 9 percent, from 14,252 last year to 15,546 this year.
Giant Gentleman, the best 3-year-old in Brent Sumja's barn, spent most of the summer recovering from a bout of colic. Now that the colt is healthy again, Sumja is optimistic he can make an impact with some of the best horses in his age group.
Giant Gentleman, a Florida-bred son of Montbrook, returned from a three-month layoff to cruise to an 8 1/2-length win over seven rivals in a nonwinners-of-three allowance at Delaware Park in mid-August. It was his third victory in just four lifetime starts.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It's true that a good horse can surface almost anywhere, but even in the most obscure locales, someone is always watching. That all-encompassing vigilance of the bloodstock business has landed the 2-year-old colt Ammodio at Arlington Park for the $75,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes on Saturday, where he will confound handicappers trying to read his form: One start, a blowout maiden win at Finger Lakes, the tiny oval in upstate New York.
POMONA, Calif. - The 8-year-old veteran Budroyale - Tiznow's older brother - has almost done it all. His 17 wins include graded stakes at Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, and Emerald Downs; he has earned $2.8 million; and he flirted with fame in 1999 when he finished second in the Breeders' Cup Classic.