GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas − Coyote Legend is not the kind of horse who needs excuses − he is a 3-year-old who has won five stakes − but handicappers might be wise to draw a line through his last start when assessing his chances Saturday in the $75,000 Assault at Lone Star Park.

The Assault, a 1 1/16-mile race, will mark Coyote Legend’s return to dirt after he experimented on turf and finished sixth as the even-money favorite in the $95,000 USA Stakes on May 31. The surface switch will be significant for him, said his trainer, Bret Calhoun.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – There was a reason Arlington Park cut its race week to four days in 2010. Arlington hosted Monday racing to cap off the July 4 weekend, adding a fifth day to its race week, and the results of that move were not pretty. Arlington’s Saturday card was supposed to have been drawn Wednesday, but entries stayed open until late Thursday morning, and even then only 67 horses – several pilfered from Thursday’s program – were entered in nine races.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Tom Albertrani has had to come up with yet another plan for his Grade 1 winning turf filly Gozzip Girl. Unfortunately, it no longer includes the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on July 31.

An allowance race Albertrani was hoping to run Gozzip Girl in was part of Wednesday’s Belmont card that was canceled due to extreme heat. That same race failed to fill for Saturday and Sunday, when it was brought back as an extra race.

The purses of three leading stakes at the Los Angeles County Fair at Fairplex Park in September have been reduced from 2009 levels, and one race has been eliminated, for the upcoming meeting from Sept. 9-26. The county fair announced the 2010 stakes schedule on Thursday.

The richest race for older horses at the meeting remains the Ralph Hinds Pomona Invitational over 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 26. The purse of the race has been cut from $125,000, to $75,000.

Just as the Ellis Park meet was set to start this weekend, disturbing news shook the Kentucky racing industry when officials at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., announced Wednesday that the once-proud Kentucky Cup series is being scrapped because of financial considerations.

The $200,000 Zia Park Distance Championship and the $150,000 Zia Park Derby are the most prestigious Thoroughbred stakes that will be run during Zia Park’s mixed meet that opens Sept. 11. The 53-date season, which also features races for Quarter Horses, extends to Dec. 7.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Purses for lower-level claiming horses will rise at Del Mar this summer, but prize money for maiden special weight and allowance races will be lower than last year.

Del Mar officials on Thursday released the condition book for the first two weeks of the meeting, from July 21 to Aug. 1, detailing the type of races, distances, and prize money available.

Director of racing Tom Robbins said the decision to raise purses for cheap claimers was done in an effort to curtail the exodus of such horses to Eastern tracks with higher prize money.

ELMONT, N.Y. − Shine Upon, an undefeated 3-year-old filly who has been sidelined since March with an ankle injury, launches her comeback in a $54,000 second-level allowance for fillies and mares, the feature on the 10-race Sunday card at Belmont Park. The race will be run at 6 1/2 furlongs and has an optional claiming price of $50,000.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ice Bear, coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 King Edward, will be dropping in class here Sunday for the $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes.

The Ontario Jockey Club, an overnight stakes restricted to Ontario foals, required a field of at least five to be carded and made the cut with six entrants.

Ice Bear, a homebred 6-year-old gelding who races for owner George Strawbridge and is trained by Mac Benson, is cutting back from one mile to seven furlongs on the turf course.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Queen’s Plate Day was not a particularly memorable one for trainer Roger Attfield.

Decked out in his finest here last Sunday, Attfield had watched Mobilizer finish ninth as the lukewarm favorite in the Queen’s Plate after Not Bourbon had run fifth as fourth choice at 9-2 in the Highlander.

All was not lost, however, as Spice Route intervened with an impressive 3 3/4-length score in the Grade 3, $163,600 Singspiel at 1 1/2 miles on the turf.

“If it wasn’t for Spice Route, I would have got killed,” said Attfield.