A hearing scheduled before Hollywood Park stewards on Thursday regarding jockey Patrick Valenzuela's recent suspension for failing to submit to a hair-follicle test has been postponed.

Wednesday, the Hollywood stewards granted a request for continuance to Deputy Attorney General Jim Ahern, who asked for more time to schedule an expert witness to discuss hair-follicle testing and analysis.

A hearing could be held in August, according to Ahern, who will argue the case on behalf of the California Horse Racing Board.

A company that controls Magna Entertainment made an offer on Tuesday to buy all the remaining stock shares in Magna Entertainment, the country's largest racing company, and combine it with its own publicly traded real-estate business.

A new six-figure race has been added to the Maryland Million Day card, scheduled for Oct. 9 at Laurel Park. The race, at 5 1/2 furlongs on grass for 3-year-olds and up, is the Maryland Million Turf Sprint, with a $100,000 purse. . . . Megan's Halo, owned and trained by John Assimakopolous, has been named the 2003 Horse of the Year for the region by the New England Turf Writers.

Drew Couto has been named president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, succeeding John Van de Kamp, who left the position earlier this year.

Couto was involved with the TOC when the organization was formed in the early 1990's and served as executive director from 1994 to 1996. He left to become president of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association in Lexington, Ky., in the late 1990's, but returned to California and rejoined the TOC as a member of the board of directors in 2001.

Moyglare Stud's broodmare Grenzen, dam of Grade 1 winner and millionaire Twilight Agenda and second dam of 1990 Belmont Stakes winner Go and Go, has died at age 29 at Eaton Farms in Lexington, Ky. Grenzen, a foundation mare for Moyglare's current band, is represented at the Irish-based farm by such daughters as Market Slide, dam of Group 1 winners Media Puzzle and Refuse to Bend. . . . Brookdale Farm in Versailles, Ky., will stand Newfoundland, recent runner-up to Peace Rules in the Suburban Handicap, upon the colt's retirement.

* Adreamisborn ($3.20) defied a track speed bias when he rallied from seventh in a field of eight to win the $50,680 Alamedan Handicap by a length at the Alameda County Fair.

* I'm the Tiger ($18.50) parlayed a dream trip into an easy 1 1/2-length win in the $141,250 Bold Venture Handicap at Woodbine. Chris's Bad Boy, the 4-5 favorite, finished eighth after stalking the pace.

* Cuyahoga ($6.80), ridden by Heberto Castillo for trainer Bill Mott, outdueled fellow New York shipper Gijima through the stretch and drew clear to earn a one-length victory in the $75,000 Denise Rhudy Memorial, a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.

* Miss Fortunate ($9.40) and Brian Peck came flying late and nailed Mayo on the Side at the wire to win the the $75,000 HBPA Handicap, a one-mile race for fillies and mares, by a half-length at Ellis Park.

Case Clay, the son of Three Chimneys Farm owner Robert Clay and a former financial management advisor with Ernst & Young in Chicago, has been named co-director of sales for Three Chimneys. Clay, who started working at the farm in 2002, will work with Braxton Lynch to oversee the farm's commercial sales operation.

Jockey Russell Baze, trainer Charlie Whittingham, and Saratoga Passage, the only Washington-bred to have won Grade 1 stakes on both dirt and turf, are among the nominees for the second round of inductions into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame, which was created last year.

Five jockeys, five trainers, five horses, and three breeders have been nominated. To be eligible, humans must have been born in Washington or have competed in the state for at least three seasons, while horses must have raced at least twice in Washington.

Vet applauds owner's call

for sale reform

Amen to the suggestions by Satish Sanan for reforming the sales of Thoroughbreds (July 5). They are, frankly, too long in coming. In a modern, civilized society, nearly all other sales, public and private, are scrutinized by some regulatory bodies to assure at least a modicum of honesty. Sanan's proposals were both measured and modest.