Horse Racing News by Brisnet

A vintage year for California-based three-year-old colts could become even more memorable if Candy Boy makes a successful invasion of Mountaineer for the Grade 2, $750,000 West Virginia Derby on Saturday.

A strong field of 12 sprinting sophomore fillies has been entered in the Grade 1, $500,000 Test Saturday on the Whitney undercard, and any number in the seven-furlong affair could find themselves in the Saratoga winner's circle at the end.

Michael J. Bruder's Guys Reward mowed down gallant front runner Fredericksburg in Sunday's Grade 3, $170,000 Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth, notching his fourth career stakes victory.

Calumet Farm's Starstruck had gone winless since last year's Grade 3, $170,000 Matchmaker Stakes, but a return to Monmouth for a title defense on Sunday brought out in the best in the daughter of Galileo.

Michael Dilger spent seven years as an assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher before going out on his own last summer. His solo career got off to a fast start when he won with his first stakes starter, New York-bred Wired Bryan, in last July's Sanford.

Team D's Big Trouble took advantage of a torrid pace upfront and surged at the wire to capture his stakes debut in Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Sanford Stakes for two-year-olds at Saratoga.

Aureilia's Belle overtook Stellaris in the lane of Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Arlington Oaks and pulled off to a three-quarter length victory under jockey Channing Hill.

Sam-Son Farms' homebred Up With the Birds rallied last-to-first to capture Saturday's Grade 2, $236,400 Nijinsky Stakes at Woodbine, scoring his first victory since last October's Jamaica Handicap.

Undefeated champion Shared Belief makes his long-awaited return to stakes competition on Saturday as part of a seven-sophomore field entered in the Grade 2, $500,000 Los Alamitos Derby.

Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Delaware Oaks has drawn a field of eight sophomore fillies, but for the second year in a row the 1 1/16-mile contest lacks a stand-out star.