AUBURN, Wash. – I Keep Saying looms as a heavy favorite Saturday in the featured race at Emerald Downs. The eight-race card begins at 2 p.m. Pacific, and the 5 1/2-furlong feature, a $25,000 claimer for older horses who have yet to win twice, is the seventh race on the program.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Shrug was good enough to win a $93,000 stakes race on grass for Swift Thoroughbreds Inc. at Del Mar last year, so he has to be considered a major player the $50,000 George Royal Stakes for 3-year-olds and up when he makes his first start at Hastings on Sunday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – On the track where she won her first two races and where she trains on a regular basis, Doinghardtimeagain will be favored to win the richest race of her career in Saturday’s $250,000 Melair Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park.

The test will be the race distance of 1 1/16 miles, and it will be the second time that Doinghardtimeagain has run that far. She was second by a half-length as a 13-1 outsider behind Tilde in the California Cup Juvenile Fillies over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita last October.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Big Screen appears ready for his close-up.

Plagued by some physical issues early in his career, Big Screen has blossomed into a seemingly serious race horse as a 4-year-old. More will be learned Saturday when he takes on seven rivals in a salty renewal of the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park.

The Westchester, run as a one-turn mile on the dirt, is the local prep for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap here on May 27.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – When leading rider Aaron Gryder came back to the barn after working Evelyn’s Dancer a half-mile in 50.20 seconds over a track rated good at Hastings on April 13, he told owner Glen Todd she was the best horse in his stable. That is saying a lot considering that Todd, who owns Evelyns’s Dancer in partnership with Mark DeDomenico LLC, won 18 stakes here last year and once again is loaded with proven stakes winners.

Neither trainer Neil Drysdale nor jockey Abel Cedillo can explain it.

Charlemagne Wood was cruising comfortably on the lead in a one-mile turf race at Golden Gate Fields on April 6. He turned into the lane with an open lead when he suddenly ducked in toward the rail. Only a good job by Cedillo pulled the 5-year-old Charlemagne Wood up quickly enough to keep him from crashing through the rail.

Charlemagne Wood returns to run in the Grade 3, $100,000 San Francisco Mile on Saturday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Ismene’s most recent workout, at Betfair Hollywood Park on April 21, was lost in a fog bank.

All trainer Bill Spawr could do was register a good guess that she worked five furlongs in 58.60 seconds.

“You couldn’t see anything,” he said. “She worked good. I think she worked five-eighths in 58 and three [fifths], but I’m not sure.”

The time is not vital. What Spawr has seen from Ismene in recent weeks leaves him confident that she can win Saturday’s $125,000 B. Thoughtful Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at Hollywood Park.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. – Shippers generally rule the roost in the $75,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes but Saturday’s edition features the strongest local contingent in years as an evenly matched field of eight will go a mile and a sixteenth in the meet’s showcase event.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Artic Fern has been a source of both joy and frustration for his trainer, Mike Keogh, showing an ability to compete with the best but having “off” days on a number of occasions.

On Saturday, Keogh will be hoping that the “A” version of Artic Fern shows up when he takes on six rivals in the six-furlong Jacques Cartier for 4-year-olds and up.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The new points system to determine eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks barely got out of the starting gate before being led back into its stall. No more than 11 3-year-old fillies are under consideration for the filly classic next Friday, well below the 14-horse limit.