INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With Bienamado, the nation's top-ranked turf horse, skipping Sunday's $200,000 Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park, the race becomes much more competitive.
While the Grade 2 Sunset lacks a prominent name, it remains an intriguing betting race that could produce a few starters for the major stakes of the late summer and fall, such as the Arlington Million, in which Bienamado will run, or the preps for the Breeders' Cup Turf.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Expected Hour and Jealous Forum, perhaps the two best 2-year-olds to compete at Woodbine this year, were both entered in Sunday's $110,800 Colin Stakes by trainer Mark Casse.
But Casse said Wednesday that he will likely run just Expected Hour in the six-furlong dash and save Jealous Forum, a filly, for the Grade 2 Schuylerville Stakes on opening day at Saratoga.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - I'm Free was so impressive winning the Burnaby at Hastings Park that he even surprised his trainer, Henry Miller Jr. "I thought that he would run a good race, but I never expected that," said Miller, referring to I'm Free's 4 1/4-length win over heavily-favored Diglett on June 30.
I'm Free has now won two of the three added money events for 3-year-olds at the meet and has to be considered the leader in the division. He's also likely to be favored in Sunday's Jim Coleman Province.
AUBURN, Wash. - With 25 victories and a 29 percent success rate through the first 49 days of the 89-day Emerald Downs stand, leading trainer Dan Kenney is clearly enjoying a banner meeting. The one thing this 39-year-old native of Seattle hasn't done this season is to saddle a stakes winner, and he hopes to correct that in Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Boeing Handicap for fillies and mares.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Ice Jamer, a multiple stakes winner owned by Vern Dyck and Bob Barr, attempts to extend his 2001 record to four wins in four outings in the $6,000 Marquis Cup here Sunday. The one-mile Marquis Cup is the last local prep for the $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby, a 1 1/16-mile race here Aug. 5
A winner of $31,343 from seven lifetime starts, Ice Jamer is the 124-pound highweight and spots from eight to 11 pounds to his four rivals.
FORT ERIE, Ont. - Daniel Wills, who is in seventh-place in the Fort Erie trainers standing, may be unfamiliar to horseplayers in general. After all, his name appeared in the past performances for the first time in the latter part of last year.
He has, however, been training longer than that. He is the husband of trainer Jeanne Ryan, who took time off to have a baby last year. The duo had operated under her name.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Speightstown, the $2 million colt who has been perfect in three starts at this meeting, is scheduled to ship to Saratoga on Friday for a crack at the Aug. 3 Amsterdam.
Owned by Eugene and Laura Melnyk and trained by Phil England, Speightstown was soundly beaten making his stakes debut in Aqueduct's Gotham this spring but has regrouped to win three sprints here under allowance terms while earning ascending Beyer Speed Figures of 96, 98, and 99.
MIAMI - Dream Supreme, whose bid for leadership in the filly and mare sprint division was sidetracked by a loss to Dat You Miz Blue in the Vagrancy Handicap, will attempt to bounce back Saturday against eight rivals in the $400,000 Princess Rooney Handicap. The Grade 3 Princess Rooney is the highlight of the second annual Summit of Speed, an all-sprint program at Calder that includes five stakes with combined purses of more than $1 million.
ELMONT, N.Y. - With Perfect Sting sidelined, there are no dominant female turf runners on the East Coast. In contrast, Astra and Happyanunoit, one-two on Daily Racing Form's Watchmaker Watch, are ruling the roost in California.
Saturday's Grade 2 $250,000 New York Handicap provides seven fillies and mares with the opportunity to put themselves in the limelight at Belmont Park, the site of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf this fall.
