LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Eddie Kenneally enjoyed one of the most productive meets of his 19-year training career by sending out 17 winners from 59 starters last spring at Churchill Downs, but the feat went largely unnoticed. All kinds of stuff was happening here, including a Kentucky Derby, the continuing phenomenon of night racing, an F-1 tornado, and a guy named Asmussen edging him out for the training title by one winner after having 71 more starters.

Not that it matters much to Kenneally, who in recent years has become one of the more reliable players at Churchill.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Retired Keeneland publicity director Jim Williams used to talk about the dramatic contrasts in fall meets at Keeneland and Churchill Downs. Indeed, the changes in weather, daylight hours, clientele demographics, and venues can make a racing fan feel like he’s stepping out of one world and into another.

Just having Separate Fire qualify for Sunday’s $1,218,400 Golden State Million Futurity at Los Alamitos was a relief for trainer Paul Jones.

Separate Fire won the Kindergarten and Ed Burke Million futurities at Los Alamitos in the spring. With the win in the Ed Burke, she remains eligible for a $1 million bonus if she wins the Golden State and the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in December. The bonus, inaugurated in 1998, has never been won.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup count as the biggest events in American racing, then Churchill Downs is pitching a two-year shutout against the rest of the country. The 2009 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita was the last time anybody else hosted these so-called majors, and it will be a three-year span, when the 2012 BC is run again in California, before another team gets back on the scoreboard.

Nuggets Please is one of a number of horses riding win streaks into Sunday’s $2 million New Mexico Cup program at Zia Park. He will be seeking his fourth consecutive win when he starts in the $180,000 Rocky Gulch, which is the richest of seven Thoroughbred stakes on a card that also includes four stakes for Quarter Horses.

All of the races are restricted to horses bred in New Mexico, and together they make the Zia program one of the most lucrative statebred championship cards in North America.

First place is remembered. Finish second, you might as well be last. Want proof? Name the second-place finisher in this year’s Kentucky Derby?

Nick Zito didn’t train this year’s second-place finisher. But he did train last year’s Derby runner-up, Ice Box, who might very well have won if not for a rough trip that resulted with him losing to Super Saver.

Here's my rundown for the Pick 4 at Belmont Park for the Bold Ruler Handicap card on Saturday:

Race 7: Maiden Claiming ($20,000)

Using as many plausible closers as possible, as it does seem there's plenty of speed in here to set up a rallier to make the last run. That list includes FREUD'S DEBUT (#1), PAPA FREUD (#3) and EUROPEAN ROULETTE (#11). I'll also use firster ROYAL ACT (#12), Also Eligible MORE THAN LUCKY (#16), and absentee BOURBON BANDIT (#8). He hasn't closed much ground in his career, but he does have nice enough works for his return.

FORT ERIE, Ontario – The 2011 annual HBPA awards dinner honoring the top Fort Erie meet performers was held Thursday evening, and although most categories had been settled, the jockeys’ race is still as tight as they come, with three riders in the mix. The final days of the meet, Sunday through Tuesday, will decide the outcome.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Stormy Lord, with three turf stakes wins under his belt this season, looms as the horse to beat here in Sunday’s $100,000 Labeeb.

The Labeeb, an overnight stakes for 3-year-olds and up, is scheduled for one mile on turf and attracted a field of 11.

Stormy Lord, an Ontario-foaled 4-year-old gelding, won the Grade 2 Connaught Cup over seven furlongs of soft turf in his seasonal bow and later won the Ontario Jockey Club over the same distance of firm going.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ariana D, the leading candidate for champion female sprinter honors in Canada this year, heads Sunday’s $150,000 Ontario Fashion Stakes, a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares at Woodbine.

Ariana D notched her local debut in the seven-furlong Bessarabian Stakes last November, a race that trainer Laurie Silvera also has in mind for her again this year. She commenced her current campaign by running second in two consecutive Grade 3 sprint stakes, including the six-furlong Whimsical.