SHAKOPEE, Minn. - As far as horseplayers are concerned, the third time is a charm.
The Claiming Crown, a six-race series designed to honor Thoroughbred racing's blue-collar warriors who otherwise toil in obscurity, comes to life again Saturday at Canterbury Park. Full fields and intriguing handicapping are hallmarks of this third running of the Claiming Crown, which offers a whopping $550,000 in purses for horses who normally compete for far lesser sums.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Saturday's Grade 3, $142,625 Royal North Handicap features an intriguing match-up between Heliotrope, last year's champion turf female in Canada, and 2000 Royal North winner Confessional.
Heliotrope has become a fan favorite at Woodbine, mainly because she gives her all every time she runs. She won her seasonal debut in the allowance prep for the Nassau Stakes, but came up a half-length short over soft ground in the 1 1/16-mile Nassau.
DEL MAR, Calif. - History is working against Georgia's Storm in Saturday's $150,000 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar.
A two-time stakes winner at Hollywood Park this summer, Georgia's Storm will try to become only the fourth filly since 1980 to win both the Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park and the Sorrento Stakes, both 2-year-old races. Run over 6 1/2 furlongs, the Sorrento is a top prep to the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 26.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Barry Schwartz, the chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Racing Association, vowed to fight the announced sale of New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation to a group led by Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment and came out swinging during a Thursday afternoon news conference.
"It's really hard to imagine the city could make such a stupid decision," Schwartz said while fielding questions in the press box at Saratoga.
AUBURN, Wash. - Kenny Hawk will be the one to beat Saturday when he heads a bulky field of 11 2-year-olds in the $40,000 colt and gelding division of the Northwest Stallion Stakes at Emerald Downs.
The 6 1/2-furlong stakes, which is restricted to juveniles whose sires were duly nominated in the year of their conception, will go as the ninth of 10 live races set to start at 1 p.m.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The British Columbia Cup Nursery and the Debutante start the B.C. Cup Summer Festival of Racing Saturday at Hastings Park. Seven added money events have been scheduled over the B.C. Day holiday weekend culminating with the $65,000 B.C. Cup Classic Monday. Both the Nursery, for 2-year-old colts and geldings, and Debutante, for 2-year-old fillies, are worth $50,000 and will be run over 6 1/2 furlongs.
The Nursery drew a full field of 10 but it looks like a three-horse race among stakes winners Intact and Excited at Last and stakes-placed No Time Flat.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Now that Fancy As is off to Winnipeg for Monday's Manitoba Derby, Sixthirty Joe heads a field of six in the $35,000 Count Lathum Handicap here at Northlands Park Saturday afternoon.
Sixthirty Joe, who drew the rail, will carry top weight of 120 pounds and have regular rider Renaldo Cumberbatch in the irons.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes will help define the field for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25, but the Travers already has one potential starter in Volponi, who crushed an entry-level allowance field on Monday while earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 110.
Volponi, a Cryptoclearance colt who was bred, and is co-owned and trained by Hall of Famer P.G. Johnson, drew away powerfully to win Monday's ninth race by 13 1/2 lengths in 1:48.41 for 1 1/8 miles on the fast main track.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Starter-allowance conditions - which govern all six Claiming Crown races - often pose a tricky challenge even to seasoned handicappers.
Because a horse's form can change dramatically over an extended period of time, some handicapping tenets that govern everyday claiming races often do not apply to the looser starter conditions for which horses qualify.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. - One of the most popular figures in the 17-year history of Canterbury Park has come home for Claiming Crown weekend.
Dean Kutz, the North Dakota native who was Canterbury's leading rider in 1987 and 1988, was honored as a special guest at the Claiming Crown draw breakfast Wednesday. Kutz was given a rousing ovation before being recognized for outstanding career achievement and his extraordinary courage in the face of personal adversity.
