LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Pretty much all of the 12 or so prospects for the Grade 1 Clark Handicap had their final prerace workouts within the last few days toward the closing-week feature event.

Flat Out, with Alex Solis in to ride, is the 123-pound highweight and likely favorite for the $500,000 Clark on Friday. Scooter Dickey was pleased with how the 5-year-old horse blew out for the 1 1/8-mile race with an easy half-mile breeze early Saturday over a fast Churchill Downs surface. “I didn’t want anything great, but it was great anyway,” said Dickey.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The last six graded stakes of the year in New York will be run this week, beginning with Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000 Fall Highweight Handicap, which is the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature.

The 10 entrants include a three-ply entry from Repole Stable and Todd Pletcher, two of which are likely to scratch. John Velazquez is named on top-weighted Calibrachoa (135 pounds) and Caixa Eletronica (134), while Driven by Success finished last in an overnight stakes Sunday.

NEW ORLEANS – Two days does not a successful race meeting make, but looking at the number of horses entered for Friday’s Day 2 of the 2011-2012 Fair Grounds meet is enough to put one in a hopeful mood.

“I think it’s a pretty good card,” Jason Boulet said of Friday’s 11-race program at Fair Grounds, and though Boulet, as the Fair Grounds racing secretary, is paid to keep the faith, his assessment hits the mark.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The last week of racing on the main track is the biggest week of racing at the fall meet, though you’d never know it from the looks of Wednesday’s card, where maiden races comprise the first four legs of the pick six and the feature is an optional claimer for fillies and mares that carries first-level allowance conditions.

The six-furlong feature is a closely matched confrontation between Spina and Full of Gut, a pair of hard-knockers who are drawn in the two inside posts and in for the optional $25,000 claim price.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – When a jockey or trainer is approaching a personal milestone, inevitably it seems that person goes cold, and the celebratory placard created in advance by the track publicity department starts to lose its shine.

If that happens to trainer Paul McGee, it won’t be from a lack of effort. Sitting on 295 victories at Churchill Downs, his hometrack track, he could conceivably hit the 300-win milestone before the meet ends Sunday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Apres Midi was scratched from a first-level allowance last Sunday in favor of Wednesday’s third race at Woodbine, and he should be competitive in the $40,000 claimer for nonwinners of two.

Apres Midi raced wide when he ran second following a layoff in his second start against $20,000 maidens Sept. 2. Three weeks later for $25,000, he had a terrible trip while stuck in traffic, before ending up fifth in his first try around two turns.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Turf-to-dirt might have become something of an overlooked handicapping angle since the synthetic era got under way a few years ago, but Thanksgiving Day racing fans at Churchill Downs might be reminded of its relevance when the Falls City Handicap is run Thursday.

Ravi’s Song, who will be ridden by the red-hot Corey Lanerie, will be switching back to the main track after three straight solid efforts on turf when she breaks from the far outside post as one of the top contenders in a field of 10 fillies and mares entered in the Grade 2, $175,000 Falls City.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While Atlantic Hurricane’s success in the Bessarabian on Saturday brought some clarity to the female sprint division, Essence Hit Man thrust himself into an already muddled picture for male sprinter honors with his victory in Saturday’s $174,000 Kennedy Road.

A change of equipment seemingly worked wonders there as trainer Audre Cappuccitti switched bits and then watched the 4-year-old Essence Hit Man make his speed stand up in the Grade 3, six-furlong Kennedy Road.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There is no trophy for the claim of the year at Woodbine, but there are other tangible rewards.

Atlantic Hurricane has earned $335,760 since being claimed for $40,000 by trainer Stuart Simon here June 10, and she recorded her fifth win in six starts in Sunday’s Grade 3, $166,800 Bessarabian Stakes. With victories in the Grade 3, seven-furlong Seaway and the Grade 3, six-furlong Ontario Fashion also in the books for her current connections, Atlantic Hurricane will be difficult to overlook in the Sovereign Award balloting for Canada’s champion female sprinter.

The Maryland-based gelding Ben’s Cat has already made one successful excursion to Penn National Race Course this season, so he’s returning to familiar surroundings as the headliner in Wednesday’s inaugural running of the $200,000 Six Bits Handicap.

He is, however, a stranger to Penn National’s main track.