ELMONT, N.Y. - Around trainer Jonathan Sheppard's barn, With Anticipation is referred to as gray boy or the white horse. On the racetrack, a more apt name for the 7-year-old gelding is win-machine.
On Sunday at Belmont Park, With Anticipation shoots for his fourth consecutive Grade 1 victory in the $750,000 Turf Classic Invitational after having captured the United Nations at Monmouth, the Sword Dancer at Saratoga, and the Man o' War at Belmont.
CHICAGO - He has teased us with flashes of brilliance. A nose victory over Point Given, winner of the 2001 Preakness and Belmont Stakes, in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile. A burst of startling acceleration when he won this year's Massachusetts Handicap. But even though Macho Uno has never run a bad race, layoffs and surprising losses have dogged his career, and in two years since the Juvenile he has won graded stakes only twice.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Paolini and Zindabad, the second and third horses across the wire in the turbulent 2001 Canadian International, will clash again in the 65th running of the Grade 1, $1.5 million turf race at Woodbine on Sunday.
The 1 1/2-mile International is the eighth leg of the 2002 World Series Racing Championship. The 11-race card also features three other stakes - the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor, the Grade 3 Highlander, and the Chief Bearhart.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - European-based 3-year-old fillies have dominated the E.P. Taylor Stakes, which offers a record purse of $750,000 - up from $500,000 last year - as the supporting feature to the Canadian International here Sunday.
Last year's renewal of the Grade 1 Taylor was a prime example as Choc Ice, Volga, and Spring Oak all came from France and swept the top three spots in the 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Several promising New York-bred 2-year-olds are entered in Sunday's $75,000-added Bertram F. Bongard at Belmont Park, part of the undercard for the $750,000 Turf Classic.
The seven-furlong Bongard shares the undercard with the $75,000-added Joseph A. Gimma, a seven-furlong race for 2-year-old New York-bred fillies.
Eleven entered the Bongard, including a strong uncoupled entry from trainer Gary Contessa's barn.
ELMONT, N.Y. - Allamerican Bertie, the Alabama runner-up, is headed to New York for next Saturday's $750,000 Beldame, and her trainer, Steve Flint, is looking forward to the challenge.
"We're coming with a filly who is ready to run and has got something to prove," Flint said Friday. "She's ready to strut her stuff."
Flint, who is based at Churchill Downs, is not underestimating the task at hand in the Grade 1 Beldame, where Allamerican Bertie meets older filly and mare stakes horses for the first time.
POMONA, Calif. - Reba's Gold and Hot Market have fitting qualifications to win the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap Sunday, closing day at Fairplex Park. Graded-stakes placed and in sharp form, Reba's Gold and Hot Market are the 119-pound co-highweights in the biggest race of the Los Angeles County Fair.
But no horse wins at Fairplex without a fight from course specialist Sigfreto, winner of the 2000 Pomona Derby and 2001 Phil D. Shepherd here.
EDMONTON, Alberta - Quincy Welch and Rickey Walcott are battling for the meet's riding honors at Northlands Park.
Welch and Walcott are two of the five Northlands jockeys who hail from Barbados.
It has been nip-and-tuck between them, and just when it appeared that Walcott was about to establish his claim to the title, up popped Welch with three stakes wins on Alberta Fall Classics Day to regain first place last weekend.
Heading into this weekend, Welch had a margin of two wins with a total of 63.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With no other speed in the race and all four of his competitors winless this year, Lord Nelson looks like an absolute standout in the $35,000 1 1/8-mile Sir Winston Churchill Handicap Sunday at Hastings Park.
Futural, who finished first in last year's Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup but was disqualified, looks like the main contender to Lord Nelson. But Futural hasn't hit the board since finishing third in an allowance race at Santa Anita Feb. 9. Diglett, Colonel Secretary, and American Justice round out the five-horse field.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Eddie Delahoussaye on Friday said that he has been informed by doctors that he will be unfit to ride for the remainder of the year because of the lingering effects of injuries suffered in a spill at Del Mar on Aug. 30.
Delahoussaye visited Santa Anita on Friday, but instead of lining up mounts for the opening day of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Wednesday, he informed well-wishers that he will be out for at least three months.
