ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Frostad would have preferred the shorter version of the $150,000 Ontario Damsel Stakes for Akron Moon. The turf race for Ontario-bred 3-year-old fillies was lengthened from 6 1/2 furlongs to a mile in 2010, to make it a viable prep for the 1 1/4-mile Wonder Where Stakes, and the speedy Akron Moon would have been a virtual lock at the shorter distance.
Nevertheless, Akron Moon will be among the favorites in the Damsel at Woodbine on Sunday.
FORT ERIE, Ontario – A shortage of horses at Fort Erie continues to plague the weekly three-day schedule for racing that was initially planned in early spring after a last-minute decision by the provincial government to support a 2013 season here.
Trainer Marty Wolfson has the horse to beat in the $75,000 Cellars Shiraz at Gulfstream Park on Saturday - whether the race stays on turf or is rained onto the main track.
E B Ryder, a nose shy of winning four straight, brings a powerful stretch punch if the 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies remains on turf. Swinger's Party will be tough to catch if the Cellars Shiraz ends up on the main track.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Examen did not get far on the Triple Crown trail earlier this year.
Trained by Tom Proctor, Examen made his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Coolmore Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in April and finished ninth of 10, racing on the inside early and encountering traffic.
“That was a little rough,” said Proctor’s assistant, Aimee Dollase.
Examen did not start for the rest of the spring. He is expected to make his turf stakes debut in the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at Del Mar on Wednesday, the opening day of that popular meeting.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Albertrani hopes to end the Belmont meeting with a bang when he runs Twilight Eclipse in Saturday’s Grade 1 Man o’ War.
Then he is hoping to get off to a hot start in Saratoga, with top contenders in both of the opening-day stakes.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Amoss will be sending nine horses to Saratoga early next week, including the stakes-bound trio of Mylute, Delaunay, and So Many Ways.
Mylute, fifth in the Kentucky Derby and third in the Preakness, will make his next start in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga on July 27 or the $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park the following day. Mylute worked an easy half-mile in 51.40 seconds Thursday at Churchill.
Saturday night’s Oak Hall Stakes at Evangeline Downs should prove to be an interesting middle ground as the seven-furlong distance has brought together an equal number of proven route performers and shorter sprint specialists. The $50,000 Oak Hall drew a field of nine and goes as the ninth of 10 races.
Eight stakes for Quarter Horses, topped by the $564,895 Lee Berwick Futurity at 350 yards, are on the closing night card at Delta Downs.
Dashing Jet Rio will put her perfect record on the line in the Berwick after overcoming a poor start to win her qualifying heat on June 22. She won her two starts before that, including a victory in the Louisiana Lassie Futurity on May 24.
Heza Fast Rouge put up the fastest qualifying time for the Berwick when the Heza Fast Dash colt zipped through 350 yards in his trial in 17.31 seconds.
Fast Puff looms a prohibitive favorite as she looks to validate her monster debut win in Arapahoe’s $35,000 Colorado Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Lassie Stakes on Saturday. The six-furlong event for 2-year-old fillies bred in Colorado drew a field of 12.
The venerable Catlaunch, who ended a 13-race losing streak when he won the 24th stakes of his 105-race career last month, takes on a field of nine other older Ohio-accredited horses in the $50,000 George Lewis Memorial at Thistledown on Saturday afternoon.
Trained by Ivan Vazquez, the 12-year-old Catlaunch has won the 1 1/8-mile Lewis three times, most recently in 2011. He was a distant third in last year’s running.
Catlaunch comes into Saturday’s race off a nose win at Beulah Park on June 16 in the 1 1/16-mile Gendleman Memorial.
