ARCADIA, Calif. – The threat of rain this week in Southern California will not dampen a Santa Anita autumn racing program bursting at the seams.

Average field size opening weekend exceeded 9.3 per race, compared to 7.4 per race during the Oak Tree at Hollywood Park fall meet one year ago. The full-field theme at Santa Anita continues Thursday, with 91 horses entered in eight races.

Larry Swartzlander, director of operations for the California Authority of Racing Fairs, is confident the 2011 fairs season will end with another strong showing as the Big Fresno Fair opens a two-week run Thursday.

Fairs at Stockton (San Joaquin County), Pleasanton (Alameda County), and Sacramento (California State Fair) showed increases in handle.

“I think Fresno will do well,” Swartzlander predicted. “It’s been successful the past two years.”

The Big Fresno Fair has some positives going into this year’s two-week meet, which runs through Oct. 16.

MIAMI – Citizen Advocate may be the claim of the year thus far in south Florida. Haltered by Tom Mara’s White Hall Lane Farm for $40,000 on July 10, Citizen Advocate has won three races in a row, including last Saturday’s $150,000 Presque Isle Downs Debutante. But if it weren’t for a disastrous turn of events earlier this summer, Mara and trainer Dave Vivian never would have dropped the claim slip that brought the 2-year-old daughter of Proud Citizen into their possession.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Throughout the year, owner Bud Johnston and trainer Don Warren have debated which races to run Acclamation in, and at every turn, their decision has been spot-on, Acclamation's win streak reaching five in the Clement Hirsch Stakes on Sunday at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif - The first weekend of the six-week Santa Anita autumn meeting saw an average ontrack crowd of 9,842 and average all-sources handle of $8,395,174.

Saturday’s 11-race program, which featured four Grade 1 races, drew an ontrack crowd of 16,013 who contributed to an overall handle of $11,678,920.

The track’s president, George Haines, said Saturday’s attendance figure “was on the low side of our ballpark” figure. He described the handle that day as “a little light.”

All-sources handle was down nearly 4 percent while ontrack handle remained virtually the same versus corresponding 2010 figures at the 16-day fall meet that ended Sunday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

All-sources handle grossed nearly $27.2 million, while ontrack handle totaled just more than $1.64 million for an increase of less than 1 percent. Sixteen dates were run both this year and last, with the Kentucky Cup series on Sept. 24 restored after a one-year hiatus.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s stable isn’t known for winning with first-time starters. So when Alpha rolled to a six-length victory in his debut at Saratoga on Sept. 3, it was noteworthy.

Just how good a horse Alpha is will be better known Saturday, when he makes the leap into stakes company in the Grade 1, $300,000 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park going one mile. The Champagne is a Win and You’re In race, meaning the winner gets a paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 5.

STICKNEY, Ill. – Hawthorne Race Course came into its fall-winter 2011 meet promising improved purses to accompany a healthy horse population, and at this early juncture of the season, Hawthorne has delivered.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Saturday at Santa Anita was a career-best day for jockey Joel Rosario, his first with three Grade 1 wins.

Rosario’s winners were Creative Cause in the Norfolk Stakes, Dubawi Heights in the Yellow Ribbon Stakes, and Zazu in the Lady’s Secret Stakes.

“It’s hard to do,” he said on Sunday morning. “You have to be perfect. Everything came together. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

All three are likely are bound for Breeders’ Cup races, giving Rosario strong chances in the Juvenile, Filly and Mare Turf, and Ladies’ Classic.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The road back to the races for the champion 2-year-old filly Awesome Feather has been filled with potholes. One hole specifically, in a tendon, forced her new connections to have to wait nearly 11 months to get Awesome Feather to the races.

The wait ends Wednesday when Awesome Feather makes her 3-year-old debut in the $60,000 Le Slew Stakes, a seven-furlong race restricted to 3-year-old fillies, at Belmont Park. Awesome Feather will face four rivals, none of whom appear fast enough to beat her.