Although there was no large crowd on hand to watch, a throwback to days gone by was offered Tuesday afternoon as Horsemen’s Atokad Downs satisfied its legal requirements of holding a Nebraska-bred race, enabling the facility in the northeast corner of the state to continue to operate as a simulcast outlet for another year.

With the Canterbury Park meet drawing to a close Sunday, the training title is a match race between Mac Robertson and Bernell Rhone. Robertson has 42 wins, two more than Rhone.

The two have taken different paths to the head of the class with Robertson starting 73 fewer horses. Rhone has done well with some longshots and has a $2.07 return on investment. Robertson started fewer horses this year than in previous years because he split his stable between Canterbury and Delaware Park.

Fans might have noticed jockey Deshawn Parker’s name popping up in the Presque Isle program five times Wednesday evening and seven times Thursday evening.

Coming into Wednesday’s card, Parker was third in the nation with 213 wins, 23 behind the leader, Ramon Dominguez. Although Mountaineer Racetrack is the 39-year-old Parker’s home base, he has decided to try different tracks to increase his number of wins this year.

As expected by the public that bet the entry to 3-5 favoritism, the Lael Stables of Roy and Gretchen Jackson got the winner's share of the $50,700 purse in Wednesday's Eight Thirty Stakes at Delaware Park. But it wasn't Nicanor who got the job done.

Nicanor, the little brother of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, was considered by far the stronger part of the entry for Lael Stables in the mile-and-70-yard turf stakes. Instead, it was unheralded Ready Set ($3.40) who saved the day for win bettors and set a course record in the process.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– With three horses already in the Travers, trainer Nick Zito was able to take the easier route with another of his promising 3-year-olds Our Dark Knight, who will be among the top choices in Friday’s $75,000 Pleasant Colony at Saratoga. Our Dark Knight won three times and was stakes-placed in Monmouth’s Spend a Buck before finishing seventh while making his graded stakes debut in the Grade 1 Haskell earlier this month.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Joel Rosario rode at Saratoga for the first time last weekend, winning the Alabama Stakes on Blind Luck. The $500,000 purse represented Rosario’s biggest win of the year.

For the next two weeks at Del Mar, Rosario has mounts in several leading races, including Dakota Phone in Saturday’s $1 million Pacific Classic. How he does in the little races until Del Mar’s closing day on Sept. 8 will determine whether he can defend his title as the meeting’s leading rider.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Princess Taylor has made 17 starts in 23 months at 14 racecourses on three continents since she last won a race, the European Breeders’ Fund Reprocolor Fillies Handicap at Haydock Park in England in September 2008.

Despite all that traveling and the losing streak, Princess Taylor is the mare to beat in Friday’s $75,000 CTT and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap at Del Mar. Run over 1 3/8 miles on turf, the CTT and TOC Handicap will be Princess Taylor’s fourth start in the United States.

ALTOONA, IOWA – Prairie Meadows hosts the Central Region MBNA Challenge series this weekend. The six stakes of the series are qualifiers for the 2010 Challenge Championships, to be held Nov. 20 at the Fair Grounds.

Bill Harris has a terrific opportunity to sweep Friday’s Challenge races. He trains the morning-line favorite in all three Challenge races.

The eight recent positive post-race drug tests for the drug etodolac came about because of a change in testing regimen in Illinois, but the veterinarian who administered the drug to horses that tested positive says he has done nothing wrong, and that the drug has been inappropriately classified by the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As the reigning Eclipse Award winner in the filly and mare sprint division, Informed Decision will be one of the stars of the undercard on Saturday’s Travers Day program as the probable favorite in the Grade 1 Ballerina. On Wednesday, Informed Decision gave a little preview of what was to come when she breezed an easy four furlongs in 48.40 seconds over the Oklahoma training track with jockey Danielle Hodsdon aboard.