ELMONT, N.Y. - At Thursday's post position draw breakfast for Saturday's stakes-studded card at Belmont Park, trainer Bobby Frankel said many of his stakes winners this year have been in the "right place at the right time."
It looks like the timing and the place are right for the Frankel-trained Flute to win her third Grade 1 in Saturday's $750,000 Beldame, her final race before the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be run three weeks later at the same track and distance.
EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Sunlit Ridge, a homebred owned by Manfred Roos, is the undisputed leader of New England's 3-year-old filly turf division and also the best Massachusetts-bred sophomore of any gender. On Saturday, she will take on open older fillies and mares in the $25,000 Highland Happening Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile turf race attracted an overflow field of 14, including several shippers, but only 10 will run.
Scottish Halo has always had talent. What he lacked was good health.
A one-time Triple Crown prospect, Scottish Halo had gone more than a year without winning a race. In fact, the now 4-year-old colt had been fit enough to make just two starts in the last 16 months.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - After a summer of setbacks, Latour looks to get back in gear Saturday night at The Meadowlands in the $75,000 Summit Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, one of two stakes races on the card.
A daughter of French Deputy, Latour won three straight races last winter, including the Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream Park, and then things began to go wrong. She has been winless since, with losses as the favorite in the Ashland at Keeneland and the Serena's Song at Monmouth Park.
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.