A pair of Indiana-sired 2-year-old stakes begin Hoosier Park's richest weekend of racing Friday night. The Indiana Stallion for fillies and Crown Ambassador for colts and geldings will both be contested going six furlongs and each will have a purse of $84,000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Saratoga or Del Mar? That’s a win-win argument for summer. But what about Keeneland in the spring or Keeneland in the fall?

Can’t lose there, either.

Six months after the budding greenery of April drew them out from a long winter, now comes the rustic beauty of October to get racing fans pumped up. This rite of Kentucky autumn is tied inextricably to top-shelf racing, as once again the rich FallStars Weekend will put an immediate sense of urgency into a 17-day meet.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Brazilian filly In the Stars was second or third in four group races in that country in the final months of 2011. She could start in races at that level in California next month if she wins a $50,000 allowance race over a mile on turf at Santa Anita on Friday.

“We need to get past this one,” trainer Richard Mandella said.

PHOENIX – With Yavapai Downs having closed and no live racing to bridge the gap between Turf Paradise meets, it’s been a long dry spell this summer for Arizona horsemen and horseplayers. So you can understand the enthusiasm that greets the opening of the 2012-2013 Turf Paradise season on Friday. The 156-day meet runs through May 7, 2013.

Ann’s Smart Dancer was the feel-good story of 2011 in the Mid-Atlantic region, winning 5 of 8 starts, including three consecutive stakes restricted to Pennsylvania-breds. So far in 2012, however, Ann’s Smart Dancer has fizzled rather than sizzled.

Winless in six starts, Ann’s Smart Dancer will try to regain her good form when she makes her first start for new connections in Friday night’s $75,000 Ligature Stakes for Pennsylvania-bred fillies and fillies at Penn National.

Trainer Dale Saunders was expecting Ready Racer to set the pace in the $100,000 Speed to Spare at Northlands Park last Saturday, but the talented sprinter lost any chance he had when he stumbled badly at the start of the 1 3/8-mile race.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Retired by Dogwood Stable in March, graded stakes winner Aikenite found no immediate takers among stud farms, with the 2012 breeding season already underway.

When Feature Jessie Gail, Ima Chickie Too, and Sweetest Illusion qualified for Friday’s $170,000 Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association Breeders’ Derby in time trials at Los Alamitos on Sept. 14, trainer Jose Antonio Flores had to watch on television.

Flores was in the midst of a 30-day suspension after one of his horses had tested positive for methamphetamine in June. The suspension ended Sept. 19, allowing Flores to return to his stable well in time for Friday’s rich derby. He has three of the 10 finalists in the 400-yard race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sour Grapes will experiment on the grass in Friday’s Woodbine feature, and her speed could be effective in the six-furlong first-level allowance, with the temporary rail out in lane 5.

Sour Grapes captured two Ontario-sired allowances at the meet, including one for nonwinners of three July 14, when she got a career-best 77 Beyer Speed Figure. Most recently, in a first-level allowance, she led in the two path on the turn en route to running second over an outside-biased track. The victorious Henny’s Heart subsequently ran third in a minor stakes at Fort Erie.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Darley Alcibiades Stakes often has proved a tongue-twister for newcomers to Keeneland, so trainer Al Stall Jr. has come up with a simpler name – at least as it applies to the 61st Alcibiades, which helps to open the 17-day fall meet Friday.

“It’s the United Nations,” said Stall. “It’s a melting pot of fillies from everywhere. It’s really hard to figure this one out.”