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This weekend’s feature race across the country is the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational Sunday at Monmouth Park.  The race dres a field of eight, but it’s a deep field highlighted by Classic winners Super Saver and Lookin At Lucky.  Ice Box, First Dude, and Uptowncharlybrown also competed in the Triple Crown Series and will try to upset the top two.

Of the new shooters Afleet Again, Our Dark Knight and Trappe Shot the one with the most promise is Trappe Shot.  The son of Tapit has won four straight by over 29 lengths.  He has a win over the track and can stalk the pace.  The pace advantage goes to First Dude he appears to be the main speed.  Ice Box wil be up against it pace wise, but his trainer also enter Our Dark Knight to help the pace.  This will definitely be a great race and will set up the second half of the three-year-old season.

The feature on Saturday at Del Mar is the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap, which is a “Win and You’re In” Challenge race for the Breeders’ Cup Mile in November.  The race drew a field of 10 with three horses trained by Bob Baffert.  Of those three last year’s Pacific Classic winner Richard’s Kid is bound to take the most support, but he is also entered in Friday’s Cougar II Handicap.

One thing this race does not lack is pace.  Enriched, Isle of Giant’s, and Red Eye Express are all expected to dispute the front end.  Tres Borrachos was once fast enough to be close, but he is starting to tail off.  Enriched may be the best of those, even with the seven day turn around, because he has show the ability to rate.  With the fast pace Richard’s Kid would be sitting nice as would the other Baffert entries Sangaree and Mythical Power.  Battle of Hastings will be making his first start on the main synthetic track.  Should Richard’s Kid go on Friday this race could be a spread race in the 50-cent pick-4.

The feature races for the Penn National racing season are this weekend with three stakes on Friday and three on Saturday.  The three Friday stakes are the Red Carpet, Jenny Wade and Femme Fatale.  The Red Carpet and Jenny Wade are on the turf and the Femme Fatale is on the main track.

The Jenny Wade, race three, is the feature on Friday and is the start of the early pick-4.  The race drew a field of nine led by the Linda Rice-trained Canadian Ballet.  Canadian Ballet is all speed, but the majority of the horses entered are speed balls as well.  The only horse that has shown the ability to rate and win is Linnea.  The four-year-old Candy Ride filly has won five of seven turf sprints and is a threat at 5-1 on the morning line.  Sea Wind is a live long shot in the Red Carpet and Starlite Starbrite is the favorite off her last race in the Femme Fatale.

With all the stakes races this weekend the most competitive stakes race may be the Ellis Park Turf stakes at 1 1/16-miles on Saturday.  The race has a field of 12 with the morning line favorite, C.S. Silk, and a lukewarm 4-1.  This is her first time in a non-graded stakes race and has not won a stakes since her two-year-old season on the polytrack at Arlington Park.  She is the class of the field, but others in the field have a shot.

Maddie’s Odyssey has won three straight races after the claim and four over all.  She is by Kitten’s Joy out of a Lemon Drop Kid mare, which screams turf.  She has two nice workouts after her last win and will be in a good spot during the race.  There does appear to be a number horse that either race on the pace or press it.  That would help the chances of Sea Gull, but she is hardly a win machine with two wins in 14 career starts.  She does, however, like to hit the board so she should be included in any trifecta or superfecta wager.  Happiness Is just finished a neck in front of C.S. Silk and is 8-1 on the morning line.  Krista’s Quik Chic was favored against Maddie’s Odyssey, but must deal with the far outside post.

Entries were taken today for Saturday’s Claiming Crown at Canterbury Park and there are eight total stakes on the card with six Claiming Crown races.  The stakes action gets underway in race three with the HBPA Sprint then goes into the CC races and finishes with the Lady Canterbury.

The feature CC race is the Jewel, but that drew only a field of six.  The interesting races are the Rapid Transit, 11 entrants, and the Emerald, 12 entrants.  The Rapid Transit is a wide-open sprint race and with several speed horses in the field there should be a decent pace.  Wild Expectations is a closer and will probably love the return to a traditional dirt track.  He got good last year at Hawthorne and has been keeping good company.  His two wins in 13 starts on synthetics could suggest his last two were throw out races.  Sweeten With Gold will be positioned ahead of Wild Expectations during the race and will be positioned behind the speed.  He goes for the great trainer/jockey combination of Jamie Ness and Daniel Centeno.  The Emerald may feature a short priced favorite in Inca King.  He was just third in a Grade 2 race and previously won five in a row.  Gran Estreno comes back to defend his win in the Emerald last year, but isn’t coming into the race as well as he was last year.  Pursue a Dream is definitely one to use underneath as he has finished second or third in seven of eight races on the Canterbury turf with no wins.