ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Tom Amoss won 62 races at Arlington between 2004 and 2006, but since that time Chicago has not been much more than an afterthought for the Amoss stable, no more so than this summer, during which Amoss has won but 4 races from only 23 starters at the meet. All that said, Amoss could make his presence felt here Saturday, when he sends out Shared Property in the Arlington-Washington Futurity, an unrestricted 2-year-old race, and Always Here Too in the Arlington-Washington Lassie for 2-year-old fillies.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Louisiana Downs toyed with the date of its marquee race this year by moving the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby up two weeks to Saturday. The gamble has paid off. Entries for 1 1/8-mile race were taken Wednesday, and the track drew one of its largest and most competitive fields in years, with the group of nine including shippers from Illinois, Kentucky, New York, and Southern California.

Russell Baze knows a lot about racing milestones.

Since beginning his career in Walla Walla, Wash., in 1974, he has won more than 11,000 races – more than any jockey in history. He’s also ridden past some of the most famous names in racing, including Laffit Pincay Jr., whom he surpassed as the world’s winningest rider on Dec. 1, 2006, and Jorge Ricardo, the Brazilian who briefly surpassed him as the world’s winningest rider, on May 16, 2009.

AUBURN, Wash. – Spirited bidding at the top of the market led to gains Tuesday at the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association’s annual yearling and mixed sale at Emerald Downs. Of the 116 select yearlings cataloged, 75 changed hands for an average price of $12,447, an increase of nearly 20 percent from the previous year.

POMONA, Calif. – A slimmer Los Angeles County Fair race meet begins Friday, and while deep-fried treats and cotton candy tempt casual fairgoers, horseplayers at Fairplex Park will discover a racing program that has trimmed the fat.

Fairplex lopped two days of racing, reduced by 22 percent the number of Thoroughbred races, and eliminated mules from the program. What remains is a sleek, 13-day meet with expectations for increased field size, higher payoffs, and challenging handicapping.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – It’s Super Derby Week, keep your eyes peeled for Mike Maker. His presence on the Super Derby undercard is as reliable a sign of autumn as tailgate parties and the start of football season.

Maker’s annual trips to Louisiana Downs began in 2007 when he won the Sunday Silence Stakes with Cherokee Triangle.

The race, named after the 1989 Super Derby winner and Horse of the Year, is for 2-year-olds at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf and is one of five stakes that have supported the Grade 2 Super Derby in recent years.

AUBURN, Wash. – More than two years removed from the events of April 1, 2009, when he suffered horrific injuries in a spill at Golden Gate Fields, Leslie Mawing is excelling at Emerald Downs. The fan favorite from South Africa is closing in on his first local riding title, just as he envisioned when the meeting began in April.

The distance of Friday’s $250,000 Presque Isle Mile looks perfect for Noble’s Promise and Stunning Stag, two of the race’s 12 expected starters. Stunning Stag will be shortening up from a mile and a sixteenth in his last two starts while Noble’s Promise will be stretching out from three straight six-furlong races.

Still, both horses will have their work cut out against Wise Dan, winner of the Grade 2 Firecracker at Churchill in his last out July 4. The Mile will be run over Presque Isle’s Tapeta surface.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield, who won last year’s $300,000 Canadian with Miss Keller, has a half-dozen nominees for this year’s running of the Grade 2 turf stakes for fillies and mares.

And while Attfield is not yet certain exactly of how many will represent the barn in the Canadian, which will be a supporting feature on the Sept. 18 Woodbine Mile card, he has earmarked Miss Keller and Mekong Melody as definite candidates.

Rahystrada, an earner of more than $850,000, and Rezif, the defending champion, were among the 10 older horses entered Wednesday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Kentucky Cup Turf, which will help to open the 2011 Kentucky Downs meet Saturday in Franklin, Ky.

Rahystrada, most recently fifth in the Arlington Million, was assigned post 6, while Rezif will start from the far outside post in the 1 1/2-mile KC Turf.