Saturday should bring out a wide variety of shapes and sizes of characters, and that’s just on the racetrack as Horsemen’s Park in Omaha, Neb., moves into Day 2 of its Festival of Racing.

With her crack sprinter Delaunay, a $40,000 claim last May 12  who has reeled off six straight stakes wins – including last Saturday’s Grade 2 Churchill Downs Handicap – headed for a freshening, owner Maggi Moss looks to dominate Saturday’s $70,000 John Wayne Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for Iowa-breds at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, with another pair of former claimers, Ice Hockey and Cresco Direct Hit.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A winning $1 super high five ticket on the ninth and last race Thursday at Churchill Downs returned $1,094.80 after more than $800,000 in new money chased a sizable carryover from Kentucky Derby Day.

The three favorites in an eight-horse field led to the relatively low payoff. The winner, C P Hath a Way, was the 6-1 third choice; she was followed by the 4-5 favorite, Starship Gambler, and the 5-2 second choice, Sabouli. The fourth horse, Here’s Fat, was 20-1, and the fifth horse, The Queen’s Hat, was 20-1.

The winning numbers were 3-9-2-8-5.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Among the 15 horses trainer Bob Hess brought to New York for the spring meet is Merit Man, the third-place finisher behind Orb in the Florida Derby.

Hess said Merit Man is being pointed to the Woody Stephens at seven furlongs here on the Belmont undercard, June 8.
Hess said Merit Man has not started since the Florida Derby because “that was a tough race on him.”

ELMONT, N.Y. - It took a dramatic change, but Irsaal has seemed to finally put it together for Shadwell Stable and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.

On Wednesday, Irsaal won a first-level allowance race for 3-year-olds by two lengths, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.15 and earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 88. He was coming off a second-place finish in a similar spot on April 5 at Gulfstream. Prior to that, he had lost four consecutive races by 10 lengths or more.

McLaughlin said that the last two races have been since Irsaal was gelded and given Lasix.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Mine Over Matter loves a wet track.

A 6-year-old son of Mineshaft, Mine Over Matter rallied from fourth under Joel Rosario to win Thursday’s $83,300 Corma Ray Stakes by one length over Be Bullish. It was a half-length back to Fiddlers Afleet in third. Ground Force and Cap the Moment completed the order of finish.

The win was the seventh from 39 career starts for Mine Over Matter, a homebred owned by Mary and Chester Broman and trained by Mike Hushion. He is 5 for 10 over a wet surface.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Absent from the Kentucky Derby for the first time in three years, Team Valor International holds out some hope for making the Belmont Stakes with recent acquisition Infinite Magic, who runs in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

A Kentucky-bred son of More Than Ready, Infinite Magic raced exclusively on synthetic surfaces in Great Britain before winning a second-level allowance race on turf at Keeneland last month.

AUBURN, Wash. – A $12,500 claimer for older fillies and mares will serve as the feature race Saturday at Emerald Downs. The 5 1/2-furlong dash attracted a field of six and will go as the eighth of nine races on a card that begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Rain would be an unwelcome guest Saturday at Arlington, where the two best races are carded for grass.

The first of them is the featured third race, a third-level allowance also open to $80,000 claimers and headlined by Miz Ida, a Kentucky shipper trained by Steve Margolis making her 4-year-old debut. Miz Ida hasn’t started since November, and her connections – Margolis and the Klein family – surely hope to use Saturday’s comeback as a stepping-stone to stakes.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Worldventurer won’t have to face the Preakness-bound Departing on Saturday, when he returns to the restricted ranks for a division of the $75,000 Texas Stallion Stakes at Lone Star Park. The one-mile race for 3-year-old colts and geldings by eligible sires is one of three stakes on the card. The program also features a $75,000 fillies division of the Stallion Stakes and the $50,000 Lane’s End Stallion Scholarship for fillies and mares bred in Texas.