Racing Preview

Quarter Horse trainer Jason Olmstead will saddle seven 2-year-olds, including the five fastest qualifiers, in the $59,400 Northlands Futurity Thursday at Canterbury Park. The Northlands is the co-feature along with the $36,675 Canterbury Park Quarter Horse Derby in which Olmstead is favored with Uncle Redheads, one of his four qualifiers in the 400-yard race. Both the Northlands and the Quarter Horse Derby date back to 1986 at the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack.

An intense week dedicated to racing Quarter Horses began with the draw for the lucrative *Futurity Subasta Selecta*.

A jam-packed nine-race card, including exciting Trial races for the finals of the Picov Derby and Ontario Sires Stakes Futurity, gets underway at Ajax Downs at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 19. This is the final 'twilight' card of racing for 2026, as the first race post time will revert to 12:55 p.m. for the remainder of the season.

The Thursday evening card at Canterbury Park will spotlight Quarter Horse racing with an eight-race program starting at 5:10 p.m. The featured events of the night are the $59,400 Northlands Futurity and the $36,675 Canterbury Park Quarter Horse Derby, which will bring together talented juveniles and proven sophomores for a pair of competitive stakes finales.

The gates will spring open Wednesday afternoon for the 2026 Sandy Ridge racing season, launching an eight-day meet featuring an 11-race card packed with promising juveniles and accomplished sophomores. First post is set for 1:00 p.m., with the opening-day program highlighted by six trials for the BOCO Futurity and four for the Bluegrass Derby.

The curtain will fall on the 2026 Retama Park racing season Saturday evening, closing out the Texas summer meet with an 11-race card loaded with stakes action. First post is set for 6:45 p.m., with four stakes races headlining the final night of the season.

The curtain will fall on the 2026 Retama Park racing season Saturday evening, closing out the Texas summer meet with an 11-race card loaded with stakes action. First post is set for 6:45 p.m., with four stakes races headlining the final night of the season.

The Sunday afternoon card at Arapahoe Park will bring the 2026 racing season to a close with a ten-race program starting at 1:00 p.m. The final day of the meet will feature three stakes events, highlighted by the $60,700 Mile High Futurity, the $40,122 Mile High Derby, and the $19,500 Rocky Mountain Championship Stakes.

The Saturday evening card at Prairie Meadows will feature another night of championship-caliber Quarter Horse racing, with a ten-race program starting at 5:00 p.m. Three stakes’ events headline the card: the $48,714 Adequan Prairie Meadows Derby Challenge, the $56,006 John Deere Prairie Meadows Juvenile Challenge, and the $57,575 Iowa Stallion Derby.

Francisco Diaz’s Emperador D leads a wide-open field of eight two-year-olds set to meet in Sunday’s $54,000 Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity at 350 yards. Under the conditions of the race, all starters in the final will be eligible to be claimed for $16,000, which means that the claiming box will be one of the most popular spots at the track on Sunday night.

The Friday evening card at Prairie Meadows will spotlight championship-caliber Quarter Horse racing, with an 11-race program starting at 5:00 p.m. The card features three stakes finales: the Grade 2 $53,856 AQHA Racing Prairie Meadows Championship Challenge, the Grade 3 $38,148 Cox Ranch Prairie Meadows Distaff Challenge, and the $75,650 Iowa Stallion QH Futurity.

A stacked lineup of 21 sophomore Quarter Horses will be in action on a night of trials to the Grade 2, $171,900 Golden State Derby on Saturday night at Los Alamitos, each seeking one of ten coveted spots in the 400-yard final scheduled for Saturday, September 5.

Queen Charlotte and Relentless Betty, the half-sisters who finished first and second in the 2025 Princess Maturity at Ajax Downs, are renewing their family rivalry on Wednesday, August 12, in this year's edition of the $29,430 Maturity.

A competitive field of nine fillies and mares will sprint 350 yards in the $25,000 Florentine Handicap, which goes as Sunday night’s eighth race at Los Alamitos.

The road to Quarter Horse racing’s richest and most prestigious event begins this weekend, as the trials for the 2026 Grade 1, $3 million All American Quarter Horse Futurity take center stage on August 7–8 at Ruidoso Downs. A total of 280 of the nation’s top two-year-olds will compete over two days of trials, with 14 heats each day, as the sport’s brightest juveniles battle 440 yards for a coveted spot in the Labor Day final.

Delta Downs will spotlight some of Louisiana's top older Quarter Horses on Thursday evening, as an eight-race program features two $25,000 stakes races. First post is set for 6:15 p.m., with the $25,000 French Quarter Stakes and the $25,000 Esplanade Stakes as the evening's main attractions.

Two pairs of trials will be run on Thursday at Canterbury Park, qualifying quarter horses for finals on Aug. 20. Races 1 and 2 at 400 yards will send the 10 fastest 3-year-olds to the $36,675 Canterbury Park Quarter Horse Derby, while 2-year-olds compete at 350 yards in races 3 and 4 to determine 10 finalists for the $59,400 Northlands Futurity. Both races have history dating back to 1986, the first season the Shakopee, Minn. racetrack held a quarter horse meet.

The spotlight shines on Retama Park Friday evening, as an action-packed 11-race program features eight trial heats for the RG2 $230,000 TQHA Sires’ Cup Futurity. First post is set for 6:45 p.m., with 79 talented 2-year-olds vying for one of just ten coveted spots in the August 22 finale.

Saturday night at Retama Park belongs to the sophomores, as an 11-race program features three competitive trial heats for the RG3 $100,000 TQHA Sires’ Cup Derby. First post is set for 6:45 p.m., with 26 three-year-olds set to battle 400 yards in races eight through ten for a chance to qualify for the August 22 championship final.