ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Winnie's Pooh Bear has traveled south from tiny Great Lakes Downs to run at the upper Midwest's mecca of racing, Arlington Park. But the 3-year-old colt will not be out of his league Sunday afternoon in the $50,000 Joe Marovich Stakes here.
Winnie's Pooh Bear, who already has won a stakes race across town at Hawthorne Race Course, faces seven rivals in the Marovich, a six-furlong sprint restricted to 3-year-olds.
Dashin Bye, third to champion Eyesa Special in the Grade 1 Texas Classic Futurity, seeks his fourth win in his last five outs in the Grade 3, $50,580 Bayer Legend New Mexico Challenge at Ruidoso Downs Sunday.
The race for 3-year-olds will be run over 400 yards with the winner receiving a berth in the Grade 1, $175,000 Bayer Legend Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos on Oct. 20.
Trainer Doris Hebert qualified all five of the 2-year-olds he started in the three trial races for the $150,000 estimated D.S. "Shine" Young Futurity on Thursday night at Evangeline Downs. The finale, restricted to horses bred in Louisiana, is set for July 3.
Hebert's most impressive qualifier was Hail to Bag ($2.60), who won by 5 1/4 lengths in the first trial of the night, covering five furlongs in 58.60 seconds. He was the fastest qualifier, and with the victory remained undefeated in two starts as he won his debut by 7 1/2 lengths last month at Lone Star.
MIAMI - Winning Sunday's $50,000-added Born Famous Stakes would be nice, but for many of the eight fillies and mares entered in the six-furlong dash the race is merely a steppingstone to potentially a much bigger payday in four weeks on the $1 million Summit of Speed program.
FORT ERIE, Ont. - It took Stacey Cooper just five tries to score her first win as a trainer. And she did it with style Monday at Fort Erie by winning with a first-time starter, Sophie's Bold, in a maiden special-weight race. The
4-year-old colt, with leading rider Chris Griffith aboard, returned his sparse backers $24.60 for a $2 win wager.
Cooper, 28, was born and brought up in Fort Erie. "I came straight to the track from high school. It seemed the thing to do. I always loved horses and I was riding while I was a wee kid," she said.
WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Robnroy will be the one to catch in Sunday's six-furlong Free Press at Assiniboia Downs.
Last time out, in the G. Sydney Halter, Robnroy dueled with eventual winner Timely Ruckus before finishing second.
In the absence of Timely Ruckus, Robnroy should be the lone speed of the Free Press, a $27,500 feature for 3-year-olds and upward.
Robnroy is trained by Pam McDougall and will be ridden by Jacques DesAutels.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While the spotlight here next Sunday will be squarely upon the Queen's Plate, the Nearctic Handicap deserves more than a life in the shadows.
The Nearctic, a six-furlong turf race, will offer Grade 2 status and a purse in the neighborhood of $220,000. And it's quite possible that no one is awaiting the race more anxiously than Richard Saland, who is the breeder, owner, and trainer of Airbourne Command.
CALGARY, Alberta - Fancy As seeks his eighth consecutive victory when he faces four rivals in Saturday's Grade 3 Alberta Derby.
A Manitoba-bred gelding, Fancy As won his last four starts last year on his way to an Alberta championship and has dominated the local 3-year-olds this spring in three preps on his march toward the $100,000 Alberta Derby.
The Derby has been the goal of trainer R.K. "Red" Smith from the first day of training, and Fancy As comes into the 1 1/16-mile race at the top of his game.