ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Nick Gonzalez stable, which won the Queen’s Plate with Midnight Aria and finished second in both the Prince of Wales Stakes and Breeders’ Stakes with River Seven, has added a new 3-year-old shooter to its Woodbine string for owners Carlo and Lou Tucci.

B E Boston Strong, bred in Ontario by Chuck Fipke, checked in at Woodbine early Friday morning with an eye toward next Sunday’s Ontario Derby, a Grade 3, $150,000 race for 3-year-olds that is one of four stakes on the Woodbine Mile program.

POMONA, Calif. – Najran Breeze can breathe easier since throat surgery in spring. But has he improved enough to upset favored Anillo and win the $50,000 Jim Kostoff Stakes on Sunday at the Los Angeles County Fair?

His trainer, Robertino Diodoro, believes he has.

“He’s a different horse now,” Diodoro said. “And he loves the bullring. A good bullring horse runs through the turns.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Burns Turn and Miss Derek, both claimed for $75,000 at Santa Anita last spring, look like the main players in the $100,000 British Columbia Oaks at Hastings on Sunday. The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies is one of six stakes totaling $550,000 on a stellar 10-race card that features the Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – There is an excellent chance trainer Craig MacPherson will win his second straight Grade 3, $150,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings on Sunday. Last year, he won his first B.C. Derby with Second City. This year, he’ll saddle the 5-2 morning-line favorite Reporting Star and the 7-2 second choice Bluegrass Pride.

Hogy, who has won two of his last three starts, has been made the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the $250,000 Presque Isle Mile on Sunday evening at Presque Isle Downs. The Presque Isle Mile, a one-mile race on the synthetic Tapeta surface for 3-year-olds and up, highlights the first of the two biggest days of the meet, capped by the Grade 2, $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters on Monday.

Jockey William Otero won the 2,000^th race of his career aboard 7-5 favorite Burst Away in Thursday night’s second race at Penn National.

Otero, 38, grew up in Puerto Rico and came to the United States in 1995, riding initially at Tampa Bay Downs. He made an impact after moving his tack in 2003 to Penn National, where he was the leading rider in 2004, 2008, and 2009. Otero is 13^th all-time at Penn National with 1,475 victories.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Turf racing at Churchill Downs will be limited at the new 12-day September meet, with an average of less than one race per card having been written into the condition book by racing secretary Ben Huffman.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – When Nootsie’s Party won Tuesday’s 10th race at Fort Erie, it capped off a great week for the 36-year-old trainer Kevin Buttigieg, which included an easy win by Catch the Luck in the Puss n Boots Cup Stakes last Sunday.

Buttigieg has a record of 5-2-2 in 11 starts at the Fort Erie meeting, a 45-percent win rate, and his small stable was certainly enhanced with the $8,000 claim at Woodbine of the 8-year-old gelding Catch the Luck.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – An overnight stakes for Sunday at Woodbine failed to fill, leaving a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares as the nominal feature. Awfully Sinful could rule the roost in the 1 1/16-mile event, which is carded as race eight on a 10-race card.

Awfully Sinful went on a mini-roll in the spring, when she romped in both a $20,000 conditioned claimer and an open $25,000 claiming contest, both at 1 1/16 miles. Following a break of nearly two months, she rallied five wide from seventh Aug. 11 to finish second in an allowance race on a speed-favoring track.

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ELMONT, N.Y. – The Lumber Guy, who finished second in his return from a six-month layoff, worked a half-mile in 47.90 seconds Thursday over the training track at Belmont Park. He is preparing for a start Sept. 28 in the Grade 1 Vosburgh Invitational, a race he won last year before finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

On Thursday, The Lumber Guy went his first quarter-mile in 24.21 seconds and came through the lane in 23.69.