WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Sunday's G. Sydney Halter Stakes at Assiniboia will pit two veteran class horses, Timely Ruckus and Smoky Cinder, against the up-and-coming Kalfaari.
The G. Sydney Halter, a 5 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds and upward, offers a purse of $27,500 and attracted a field of seven.
The probable favorite, Timely Ruckus, is trained by Ernie Keller and leads the field in career wins with 18 and career earnings with $443,550.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mactaquac, a five-time winner at Woodbine in 2000, will be honored as Ontario's claimer of the year by the Toronto Thoroughbred Racing Club here next Sunday.
The TTRC, which was founded in 1961, has a membership that includes some horsemen but primarily is composed of racing fans. Members, who pay an annual fee of $35 (Canadian), are entitled to attend monthly meetings here during the live racing season that feature appearances by racing celebrities.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Comebackers Deputy Inxs, Saratoga Prince, and Mark My Dreams are among the six runners in Sunday's Woodbine feature, a seven-furlong classified allowance worth $67,200.
Deputy Inxs, a 10-year-old trained by Audre Cappuccitti, reached his peak in 1999, when he was voted the Sovereign Award for champion sprinter and champion older male.
Deputy Inxs made just three starts last year and wasn't a factor in any of those races, which were all stakes. He hasn't raced since he finished a distant fourth in the restricted Steady Growth a year ago.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Rosann Anderson has a lifetime win percentage that's close to 20 percent, and she has done it while training mostly claiming horses. Kat Dancer, who runs in the seventh race Sunday at Hastings Park, has the potential to be her first stakes winner, but Anderson isn't concerned with that, she's just happy to have him alive and well. "When he was born he was the most beautiful horse at the farm," said Anderson. "But soon after he became very sick and almost died. I owe a lot to farm foreman Clinton Gore, and yes, that's his real name.
AUBURN, Wash. - Shandra Smiles took command of the 3-year-old filly division at Emerald Downs with an authoritative front-running win in the 6 1/2 furlong Federal Way Handicap on May 6. The game changes on Sunday, however, when the $45,000 Kent Handicap will be contested at a mile.
Bobby's Buckaroo, a seven-time winner in 15 lifetime starts at Delaware, heads a group of eight older sprinters in Sunday's six-furlong, $55,000-added handicap at Delaware Park for horses who haven't won a stakes race worth $50,000 or more this year.
The 5-year-old Bobby's Buckaroo scored his most recent victory against similar company in a high-priced optional claimer on April 9, then ran second despite being bumped and squeezed at the start of the Damitrius Stakes on April 28.
This one's for the marathon mares.
Seven older female turf specialists, plus one 4-year-old filly, will tackle 1 1/2 miles in Sunday's $50,000 April Run Stakes at Pimlico.
Of those with some experience at long distances, Free Vacation has the most solid credentials. A
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Grooms Derby, winner of the Grade 3 British Columbia Oaks last year, will be a heavy favorite to notch her first victory this year in an allowance race for fillies and mares Saturday at Hastings Park. The 6 1/2-furlong race drew a field of eight and goes as the fifth race.
Grooms Derby comes into Saturday's race off a second to Make Contact in the Strawberry Morn Stakes on May 12. It was her second start of the year and she improved greatly over her previous start, a distant fourth to Make Contact in an allowance race April 21.
CALGARY, Alberta - Saturday's 51st running of the Teeworth Plate will provide Stampede Park fans with the matchup they have been waiting for all spring.
Scotman, who marched through the 3-year-old ranks last year - capturing the Alberta Derby here, the Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs, and the Canadian Derby at Northlands Park on his way to Alberta horse of the year honors - is making his seasonal bow and will meet Code Name Fred, this province's champion older horse of 2000.
AUBURN, Wash. - Ten older sprinters, eligible to be claimed for $12,500 down to $10,000, seek a second career win in Saturday's 6 1/2-furlong feature at Emerald Downs.
Four in the field exit a common race, which was run under the same conditions at six furlongs on May 12. Eye Spy, Don Double D, Demons Derby, and Colonel Dixie finished second through fifth, in order, behind Knight Invasion in that race, and Eye Spy might be favored on Saturday after outfinishing his returning rivals by anywhere from three-quarters of a length to five lengths.