OCEANPORT, N.J. - Follow Me Home, her four-race winning streak stunningly snapped in the Miss Woodford Stakes, hits the comeback trail Saturday afternoon in the $50,000 Joseph Buckelew Stakes at Monmouth Park.
Follow Me Home will face 11 rivals in the five-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies.
Trainer Bob Levine still can't figure why Follow Me Home finished a tired fifth in the Miss Woodford after four sparkling efforts.
POMONA, Calif. - The gelding Legendary Weave cooled off at the same time his trainer, Jack Carava, began to heat up. Saturday at Fairplex Park, handicappers will decide which is more important - the form cycle of the horse, or the hot streak of his stable.
A field of 10 entered the $50,000 Phil D. Shepherd Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race that represents a steep drop in class for Legendary Weave. The lineup includes veterans Truly a Judge, Dixie Law, Infinite Faith, Good Meeting, and High Tracks - not a graded-stakes runner in the bunch.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Few took Chopinina seriously heading into last year's Atto Mile, where she was making her first appearance in 10 weeks after opening up her campaign with a pair of wins in optional claiming races.
But many were reconsidering their positions after Chopinina, at 55-1, led the way to deep stretch before giving way to California invader Good Journey and settling for second.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Cruising Executive and Miss Crissy meet for the second time in two months Saturday at Woodbine in the $137,125 La Prevoyante Stakes, a one-mile turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.
Cruising Executive beat Miss Crissy in the July 16 Passing Mood Stakes, benefiting from an ideal pace setup. She raced well off a three-way speed duel in that seven-furlong turf race before closing to prevail by a length. She was racing just a week removed from a maiden win in her 2003 return.
FORT ERIE, Ontario - For the third consecutive year, Winnipeg-based owner-trainer Pat Matthews struck with a big-priced winner after shipping into eastern Canada.
On Tuesday, Matthews won a maiden special weight on the turf with Jasper Park at a $43.60 payoff. Jasper Park, a 4-year-old colt making his seventh lifetime start, had not raced since July 20 at Assiniboia Downs.
Matthews started his yearly trek to Ontario in 2001, and it was an auspicious beginning. He won right away that year at Fort Erie, in a nonwinners of three at $14,000 with By Bird, who paid $44.80.
ALTOONA, Iowa - Multiple stakes winner Wiggins appears to have scared off most of the competition for Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Derby, as only five rivals will line up to face him in the closing-day feature of the 48-day mixed meeting.
Trainer Tony Granitz considered shipping Wiggins to run in the $750,000 Pennsylvania Derby earlier in the month, but passed in favor of this spot. As a result, Wiggins will be the odds-on choice in the 1 1/16-mile Prairie Meadows Derby.
If Spring Cat stays between the two white fences and rider Huber Villa-Gomez stays on her back, she should have little trouble making it back-to-back stakes wins and three straight victories Saturday afternoon. She will face seven other 2-year-old Ohio-bred fillies going six furlongs in the $35,000 Emerald Necklace Stakes.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Grade 2, $250,000 British Columbia Derby is usually the most important race in the province, but the Grade 3 British Columbia Breeders' Cup Oaks will take on national significance if Too Late Now, Raylene, and Dancewithavixen all start. The only problem is that the derby and Oaks are both next weekend and the trainers of Too Late Now and Dancewithavixen aren't sure in which race their horses will run.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - Saturday's $60,000-added Carmel Handicap at Bay Meadows may prove to be one of the toughest stakes of the meeting for handicappers to figure out.
The 1 1/16-mile turf race drew 10 3-year-old fillies, and a case can be made for each.
DEL MAR, Calif. - In recent years at Del Mar, the 2-year stakes have been dominated by trainer Bob Baffert. But Baffert's streak was halted this summer by Richard Mandella, who made a clean sweep of the major stakes for 2-year-olds when Siphonizer captured the Grade 2, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on Wednesday's closing-day card.
"I'm a 2-year-old trainer," the Hall of Fame trainer said, partly in jest.