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Mother Nature hasn't been kind to Calder Race Course on big stakes days since 1999. Hurricane Dennis forced postponement of last summer's Summit of Speed for 24 hours until Sunday July 10 because of power outages.

Hurricane Irene because of extensive flooding six Octobers ago forced a week's delay in the Festival of the Sun. In September 2004, Hurricane Frances forced postponement of the track's Juvenile Showcase card that featured all 2-year-old races and three stakes.

While rain is forecast through Friday, it appears the seventh Summit of Speed with purses exceeding $2 million will have its day in the sun unless Mother Nature whips up an ill wind.

Four of Saturday's nine stakes are graded at six furlongs. Fort One Carats set the track record of 1:08 4/5 winning the $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap for 3-year-olds and up on Oct. 7, 2000 when the Grade 2 race was part of the Festival of the Sun card. However, the best time for the distance at the South Florida track between '03 and '05 is 1:09 1/5.

That's slower that times at six majors tracks across the country, according to the Daily Racing Form, including 1:07 2/5 at Churchill Downs, 1:07 3/5 at Belmont, 1:07 4/5 at Santa Anita and 1:08 2/5 at Arlington Park.

Lost in the Fog, winner of last year's $300,000 Carry Back Stakes, will be favored to capture the Smile for 3-year-olds and up facing a dozen challengers. Breaking from post 10, he carries the high weight of 125 pounds, only one more pound winning the Aristides Handicap by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:08 2/5 on June 3 at Churchill Downs.

Challengers include Kelly's Landing, runner-up in the Aristides, who captured five races last year that included that Churchill Down stakes when he upset Battle Won.

Others with a chance: Nightmare Affair, seven-time stakes hero who won Calder's Champali Stakes last month and finished a troubled third in last year's Smile behind Woke Up Dreamin; Joey P., who took the John J. Reilly Handicap in May at Monmouth; and Mister Fortis, fourth in the '05 Smile who ran ninth in the Commonwealth BC in April at Keeneland after capturing the Richter Scale at Gulfstream.

The $500,000 Princess Rooney, elevated to a Grade 1 this year, features Dubai Escapade, half-sister to last year's winner Madcap Escapade. The 4-year-old, carrying high weight of 122 pounds, faces six others going for her fifth consecutive victory of the year after taking the Vagrancy Handicap on June 11 at Belmont.

Contenders include Ebony Breeze, winner of the '03 Azalea Breeders' Cup who recorded her 12 th triumph in the Chicago BC Handicap last month at Arlington Park; Annika Lass, third in that seven-furlong contest; and Leave Me Alone, who captured last year's $300,000 Azalea, but trailed in the Vagrancy.

The Grade 3 Azalea for 3-year-old fillies offers the best chance for locally based horses to score. Frolicing earned a spot in the eight-horse field with an impressive three-length victory over A Sea Trippi after a slow start in last month's Swept Away Stakes at Calder. Challengers include A Sea Trippi, Swept Away runner-up, and multiple stakes-winner Victorina, stablemate of Lost in the Fog who finished third in the Dogwood BC Stakes last month at Churchill Downs.

Likely favorite in the Grade 2 Carry Back is three-time stakes winner Too Much Bling, who lost by two lengths to Songster in the Woody Stephens BC Stakes last month at Belmont after whipping the winner by nine lengths in the Bay Shore Stakes in April at Aqueduct.

Too Much Bling and Blazing Rate, third in Calder's Valid Video after finishing off the board in two earlier stakes, share high weight of 122 pounds.

The field will include an array of talented 3-year-olds: Mach Ride, who rallied from off the pace to win the Video Stakes in June, his fourth consecutive victory this year; Northern Soldier, unbeaten in three starts following a victory in the Laz Barrera Memorial Stakes at Hollywood Park in May; and Yes He's Your Man, who won all three races at Calder, captured the Select Stakes in May at Monmouth, but finished third after a rough trip in the Gilded Time Stakes last month.

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