TORONTO, August 6 – Jockey Alex Lai, Hong Kong’s leading apprentice rider in 2003-04, will make his Canadian riding debut, Sunday at Woodbine.

A lifetime winner of 154 races, Lai, who began riding professionally in 2000, will ride Grey Boundary for trainer Tino Attard in Sunday’s seventh race, a 1 ¼-mile race contested on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Warbling headlines a select group of fillies and mares entered in the 19th running of the Grade 2, $150,000 Honorable Miss Handicap, one of two graded stakes for sprinters set to be held at Saratoga Race Course on Sunday.

After finishing second in the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl and third by two lengths in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie, Warbling earned a breakthrough victory when she drew clear to take the Grade 2 Inside Information by 3 ¾ lengths, with all three starts having come at Gulfstream Park over the winter.

SARATOGA SPRINGS,
N.Y. – Franny Freud, the 5-2 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test at Saratoga Race Course, will miss the race with a career-ending ligament injury.

The injury was discovered Thursday morning after the 3-year-old daughter of Freud had a routine gallop.

“It’s kind of shocking, but I’m glad we caught it before it could have developed into

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In its first year as a Grade 1, Sunday’s $250,000, six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap has drawn a fiercely competitive field for its 26th renewal.

GEORGETOWN, KY – AUGUST 5, 2010– Bonnie’s Poker, dam of 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm, was humanely euthanized today at Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Facility in Georgetown, KY. The 28-year-old mare was suffering from EPM.

Trained by Anthony Dutrow, Robert Lake, and others, Bonnie’s Poker (Poker – What a Surprise by Wise Margin) was a hard-knocking claimer in the 1980s, starting 63 times with 11 wins –including three wins in 10 days at Aqueduct in 1986–and 19 other appearances on the boards. Her earnings totaled $153,960.

By Jenny Kellner

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Divine Fortune tracked favored Slip Away to the final hurdle before grabbing the lead and going on to a three-quarter length victory over stablemate Arcadius Thursday afternoon in the 15th running of the Grade 2, $75,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase at Saratoga Race Course.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Miss Keller took off in the stretch in Wednesday’s $70,000 De La Rose to give trainer Roger Attfield his second stakes victory of the meet and jockey Javier Castellano his fourth winner of the day.

As Be Fair led the field through opening fractions of 23.88 and 47.22, Castellano kept Miss Keller well-held at the back of the pack in seventh. Carried four-wide exiting the far turn, she responded explosively when asked in the stretch to hold off the late-closing Keertana and win by a length.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Quality Road and Blame, two of the top older males in training, face off for the first time Saturday in the 83rd running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Todd Pletcher for Edward P. Evans, Quality Road will be going for his third straight Grade 1 win, having dominated the division this year with brilliant victories in the Donn Handicap, in which he earned a 121 Beyer Speed Figure – the best performance by any horse so far this year – and the Metropolitan Handicap, in which he earned a 112.

* Trappe Shot to start Travers Day; race uncertain
* Big Drama arrives for A.G. Vanderbilt start
* Fields coming together for Hall of Fame, Sword Dancer, Adirondack Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trappe Shot, second to Lookin At Lucky in the Grade 1 Haskell, will make his next start at Saratoga Race Course on August 28, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Wednesday.

“We do know, if everything goes well, that he will run on August 28,” said the trainer. “What we don’t know yet is what race he will run in.”

WHAT: Week #3 at Saratoga Race Course

WHEN: Wednesday, August 4 – Tuesday, August 10

WHERE: Saratoga Race Course and other locations in Saratoga Springs

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4