SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The field for Saturday's $300,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap doesn't include the best of the handicap division, but the race nonetheless is competitive.
Among the 10 older horses entered in the 1 1/4-mile Saratoga Breeders' Cup are millionaires Dollar Bill, Gander, and Unshaded.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey David Flores may have done handicappers a favor when he chose to ride Regiment in Saturday's $150,000 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar.
This year, Flores has won stakes on three of the five entrants. During the winter and spring, he won three stakes on Mountain Rage, who is trained by Bob Baffert. On May 27, Flores rode the Baffert-trained Regiment to victory in the Diamond A USA Stakes at Lone Star Park. On June 1, he won the Will Rogers Handicap at Hollywood Park on Doc Holiday for trainer Wally Dollase.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With Jerry Bailey out of town both days this weekend, the opportunity is there for Edgar Prado to make things interesting in the race for Saratoga's leading rider.
Bailey, who had a meet-leading 32 victories through Thursday, will be at Arlington Park on Saturday to ride, among others, Beat Hollow in the Million. On Sunday, Bailey will be at Monmouth Park to ride Include in the Iselin Handicap.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - Bowman's Band earned a spot near the top of the handicap division with a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Oaklawn Handicap on April 6, but since then has been unable to break through for his first graded-stakes victory. Sunday's Grade 2, $350,000 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth will serve as a gauge for trainer Michael Matz, who must decide whether Bowman's Band should continue battling the top of his division or look for slightly easier spots.
OCEANPORT, N.J. - With many of her 3-year-old filly peers in the midst of tough campaigns, Alternate is fresh and dangerous as she tries for her first graded stakes win in the Grade 2, $250,000 Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks at Monmouth Saturday.
The Monmouth Oaks, run at nine furlongs, drew a field of five and lacks a graded stakes winner. Alternate's solid qualifications in only six career starts, all this year, will make her a strong favorite on Saturday.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Because of a United Tote Company software glitch, simulcast players in Kentucky and Indiana will not be allowed to bet into Saturday's Festival Three, the pick three wager that links the Arlington Million, Beverly D., and Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park.
Churchill Downs, however, will offer its own separate pool on the same races. The takeout on the Churchill offering will be 15 percent, whereas the Arlington takeout is 25 percent.
SAN MATEO, Calif. - When only three rivals signed up to challenge in a stakes for 3-year-old fillies last weekend at the Bay Meadows Fair, A B Noodle's fate was sealed.
The Floral Fiesta Stakes was canceled, and A B Noodle must now take on older fillies and mares in Saturday's $40,000-added Lady Morvich Handicap.
A stakes-winning 3-year-old filly, A B Noodle will break from post 5 when she takes on seven older rivals in the 1 1/16-mile turf race.
With three stakes winners entered in the $100,000 James C. Ellis Juvenile, Ellis Park's biggest race for 2-year-olds isn't lacking quality. But the success of a few hasn't scared away the competition, and a full field of 12 was entered for the seven-furlong contest.
The horses in races like the Arlington Million might be divided into three groups: foreign invaders, ex-foreign-trained horses, and horses that have been trained exclusively in the United States.
In 19 runnings, the Million has been won by foreign invaders five times: Tolomeo, Teleprompter, Mill Native, Dear Doctor, and Silvano. Ex-foreigners have also won five Millions: Perrault, Estrapade, Steinlen, Golden Pheasant, and Chester House. American-bred and -trained horses have won it eight times: John Henry (twice), Manila, Tight Spot, Paradise Creek, Awad, Mecke, and Marlin.
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - For the second year in a row, the best European horse in the Arlington Million comes from Germany, and if Paolini runs as well Saturday as Silvano did a year ago, he may give favored Beat Hollow a battle.
Ignore Paolini's morning line odds, 10-1, but use those numbers in a different way - Paolini has run in Group 1 races in his last 10 starts.
"He has the same class as Silvano," said Andreas Wohler, the trainer of both horses. "He's gotten stronger year by year, and he's doing very well right now."