ETOBICOKE, Ontario - American runners Global Vision and Christmas Party drew into the first and possibly tougher division of Saturday's Grade 3 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine, a one-mile turf race for 2-year-old fillies.
Lush Soldier may be the one to beat in the second Natalma split, which is strictly a local affair. Each division is worth $139,250.
As a grand looking yet underachieving import from Europe, Generous Rosi had trainer Niall O'Callaghan looking for ways to fulfill his considerable potential.
Turns out, the answer wasn't that hard to find.
"Took me eight months," a laughing O'Callaghan said earlier this week while preparing Generous Rosi for the $100,000 Turfway Park Fall Championship, a Grade 3 race that will be run Saturday at the Florence, Ky., track.
SALEM, N.H. - Nearly two years have passed since the legislation that governs racing in Massachusetts lapsed. In the absence of new permanent legislation, racing has continued under a series of extensions of the old law.
Suffolk Downs, although unable to finalize a purse structure without new legislation, will proceed as planned with a fall meeting. Opening day will be Saturday, Sept. 29. Racing will continue through Saturday, Dec. 22 on a five-day-a-week schedule, with post time at 12:45 p.m., Thursdays and Sundays will be dark.
Undefeated Shining Sky, whose connections passed on the $1.9 million All American Futurity, will be favored to earn a large paycheck in the Grade 1, $300,900 Sam Houston Futurity on Saturday night at Sam Houston Race Park.
Shining Sky's owners, Bubba Smith and Bill Fowler, who race as B and B Joint Ventures, elected to keep Shining Sky in Texas for the Sam Houston Futurity rather than pay the $50,000 supplemental fee to run in the All American Futurity trials. None of the seven All American Futurity supplements made the Labor Day finals.
Trainer Gerald Romero, who is winning races at a 45 percent rate in his first season at Retama Park near San Antonio, can pick up his third stakes win of the meet Saturday night with Lost Agenda. Lost Agenda faces six others in the $35,000 Jim Bowie, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds that has also drawn Kris Havingfunnow, whose biggest career win came over the Retama course in last year's $100,000 El Joven.
NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Watch Me Fire, an impressive winner of the Loyalty Stakes in his last race, attempts to stretch his speed around two turns in Saturday's $75,000 Juvenile Stakes. Watch Me Fire will face 10 other Ohio-bred 2-year-olds in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Stakes.
Watch Me Fire assumed command entering the stretch in the Aug. 18 Loyalty and won by 6 1/2 lengths in 1:10.86 for six furlongs. He appeared to be well within himself that day, suggesting the 1 1/16 miles may be within his racing scope.
Nuclear Assembly seems to be getting better with each race. Known for his front-running ways, Nuclear Assembly showed a new dimension in his last start when he won from off the pace. His newfound running style and 4-for-5 record make him the one to beat Saturday in the $40,000 Minstrel at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.
MIAMI, Fla. - In their only previous meeting, nearly six months ago at Gulfstream Park, Halo Reality and Happily Unbridled finished second and third in the Grade 2 Bonnie Miss Stakes. On Saturday, the pair will square off once again, for a more modest purse, in the $50,000 Judy's Red Shoes Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies at Calder.
Halo Reality and Happily Unbridled have both been lightly raced since the Bonnie Miss.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - On Saturday, Marty's Boy could become Fort Erie's winningest horse of the year. Nine runners have scored four times. Even more noteworthy is that it would be Marty's Boy's fifth consecutive triumph. All four wins were at the bottom claiming level of $5,000.
From post 3, the 5-year-old Marty's Boy will take on $7,500 claimers in a five-furlong turf dash that attracted 20 entrants, 10 of whom will go. The race was written for horses who have never won on the grass.