ELMONT, N.Y. - In the fall, an improving 3-year-old is a dangerous commodity. Add in a tactical and weight advantage and Krieger looms a serious threat to multiple stakes winner Baptize in Sunday's $200,000 Jamaica Handicap at Belmont Park.
A solid field of nine was entered for the Jamaica, a nine-furlong, Grade 2 race run over Belmont's inner turf course. There are also two horses entered for main-track-only purposes.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Eight fillies and mares are scheduled to run in the $35,000 Delta Colleen Stakes at Hastings Park this Sunday afternoon, but most of the focus will be on rivals Grooms Derby and Make Contact in the 1 1/16-mile feature.
The unusual setting provided by Kentucky Downs will be the focus of horseplayers Sunday when $700,000 in purses is offered during the fourth annual Kentucky Cup Turf Festival.
Kentucky Downs, the undulating, turf-only course located adjacent to the Tennessee border near the town of Franklin, Ky., has carved out an unusual niche for itself with this once-a-year bonanza. The series culminates with the $300,000 Kentucky Cup Turf, a
ETOBICOKE, Ontario -- Many local racing observers would conclude that the two most important Woodbine stakes for 2-year-olds are the Coronation Futurity and the Grade 1 Grey. In recent years, though, the Swynford Stakes has arguably outdone those two races in producing successful runners. The last three Canadian 2-year-old champions all won the seven-furlong Swynford, including future Grade 1 winner Exciting Story, who dusted the upwardly mobile Graeme Hall in the 1999 running.
POMONA, Calif. - Even while the Los Angeles County Fair race meet faces an uncertain future at Fairplex Park, added ambiguity surrounds the meet's biggest race. Eight older horses entered the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap, but the complexion will change greatly by post time Sunday.
Budroyale is only 50-50 to start in the about mile and an eighth race. L'Effaceur, winner of the Pomona Derby last year, entered but may run Monday in the 6 1/2-furlong Governor's Cup. Finally, a bruised foot has sidelined Fairplex specialist Native Desert.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Miss Sandy Dee tries to secure honors as the top local older mare Sunday in the $35,000 Matron Stakes here. The 1 1/8-mile race has attracted a field of nine.
Miss Sandy Dee last raced Aug. 5, capturing the Winnipeg Sun for her first stakes victory. Miss Sandy Dee, trained by Patti Ross, probably will be close to the pace Sunday and jockey Rohan Singh should be able to give her a good trip from post 2.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fly for Avie, who was looking to become a repeat winner in next Sunday's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, will miss the race due to a freak accident and probably is headed back to the breeding shed.
David Bell, who trains the 6-year-old Fly for Avie for owner Ivan Dalos, said the mare was found lame in her stall during a routine evening inspection earlier this week.
"She must have got cast," said Bell. "She hurt herself behind. I just don't feel we can go into the E.P. Taylor if she's not 100 percent; it's not a race to do that with."
Grass or dirt? It didn't matter to Mystic Lady in Friday night's $200,000 Boiling Springs Breeders' Cup at The Meadowlands.
Though heavy rain forced track officials to switch the Grade 3 stakes from turf to dirt, Mystic Lady romped to a front-running 5 1/2-length victory over three rivals.
Sent off a 3-5 favorite, Mystic Lady ($3.20) reeled off fractions of :24, :47 and 1:10 4/5 under jockey Eibar Coa and completed the mile and a sixteenth in 1:42 3/5.
Shooting Party was second, completing a $3.80 exacta. It was 6 3/4 lengths back to Plunderthepeasants in third.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Red Bullet, the 2000 Preakness winner, has a slight muscle tear that will force him to miss next Friday night's Meadowlands Cup and has officially taken him off the Breeders' Cup Classic trail, trainer Joe Orseno said Friday.
Orseno said Red Bullet would now be pointed to the $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 24, the last Grade 1 race of the year in New York. Orseno was hopeful Red Bullet would be brought back as a 5-year-old although owner Frank Stronach will make that decision.