POMONA, Calif. – Upsets were the theme on Friday at Fairplex Park, where the 13-day Los Angeles County Fair meet began with a $16.20 surprise by Candy and Thunder in the $49,000 Beverly Lewis Stakes.

Racing over a dirt track that produced slow times, Candy and Thunder gave jockey Juan Hernandez and trainer Leandro Mora their first stakes wins at Fairplex, and iced a pick-six carryover into Saturday of $18,115.

Candy and Thunder won by three-quarters of a length over 9-10 favorite My Selection, a front-runner compromised by the speed of the track.

DEL MAR, Calif. – If those significant increases in advance deposit wagering for Del Mar’s meeting looked too good to be true, turns out they were.

Del Mar announced late Friday that bets run through advance deposit wagering provider TVG had mistakenly credited an additional $9,681,116 in handle to Del Mar from Aug. 21 through Sept. 3, an error that was discovered during a post-meeting audit.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio – Eyes Super Freaky held off Bold Captain by 1 1/4 lengths to capture the $50,000, 1 1/4-mile Governor's Buckeye Cup on Friday at Thistledown, his third win in a row and second stakes victory this year.

Eyes Super Freaky settled within striking distance four wide while with the second flight under Luis Gonzalez, responded readily when set down on the second turn, and made the lead at the top of the stretch. Bold Captain made a determined late run but could not get to the winner

It was four lengths back to Only Boy in third.

At Saratoga Friday morning, Godolphin Racing’s Grade 1 winners Alpha and Questing each put in workouts over the synthetic surface at the Godolphin – formerly Greentree – training center.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Plotting out the future for 21 maiden winning 2-year-olds isn’t easy, especially when there are limited opportunities to run on dirt. Thus, Pletcher has made plans for some, though not all, of his juvenile arsenal.

Kauai Katie, the Adirondack winner, and Unabashed, a 4 1/2-length debut winner, are being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Matron at six furlongs here on Sept. 30. Jocosity, who won his maiden by 7 1/2 lengths in his dirt debut – his third career start – is possible for the Grade 2, $200,000 Futurity, also at six furlongs, on the same day.

AUBURN, Wash. – In racing lexicon, “getting a lot of calls” as the front-runner is a good thing, and Sunday, two speedy horses trained by Charles Essex will get plenty of calls from track announcer Robert Geller during Washington Cup Day at Emerald Downs.

Alsvid will be seeking the fifth stakes win of his young career Sunday at Zia Park, when he starts as the 123-pound highweight in the $100,000 Premiere Cup Handicap. The race, to be run over six furlongs, is the first of the meet’s three major open-company stakes for Thoroughbreds.

ELMONT, N.Y. – It is not as prestigious as the Grade 1 Spinaway, but Sunday’s $80,000 Meadow Star Stakes at Belmont Park could be the path to more prestigious prizes this fall for Dreaming of Julia.

Scratched from last Sunday’s Spinaway so that she wouldn’t run against her stablemate Teen Pauline, Dreaming of Julia figures a heavy favorite against four opponents in the Meadow Star, a one-turn mile race that could lead the winner to the Grade 1 Frizette here on Oct. 6.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Jockey Joe Talamo was traveling to Louisiana Downs on Friday to spend some time catching up with old friends before he was to ride favorite Blueskiesnrainbows in the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby on Saturday.

Talamo, 22, launched his career at Louisiana Downs and rode his first winner here, on July 9, 2006. He has since become one of Southern California’s top jockeys, and after closing out a stellar meet at Del Mar on Wednesday he flew to his home in New Orleans on Thursday. Talamo said he was looking forward to his time this weekend at Louisiana Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Management’s decision to cancel turf training here Friday, with a weekend of major turf racing set for next Saturday, Sept. 15, and Sunday, Sept. 16, perplexed a number of trainers who had planned workouts on the surface.

But Sean Gault, senior manager of racing surfaces for the Woodbine Entertainment Group, was convinced that he made the correct call.

“The turf was still soft this morning from the rain on Tuesday,” Gault said. “We had 46 millimeters (more than 1.8 inches) of rain.