RUIDOSO, N.M. - Runnning Brook Gal, the champion 2-year-old Quarter Horse of 2009, will make her first start of the year Friday at Ruidoso Downs. She goes in the third race, a $25,000 optional claiming race for fillies and mares that will be run over 350 yards. Runnning Brook Gal won the All American Futurity last year at Ruidoso.

The race Friday will be Runnning Brook Gal's first start since Nov. 29, when she won the Grade 1 Southwest Juvenile Championship at Zia Park. She was freshened after that race, and has been working at Ruidoso.

LINCOLN, Neb. - Lincoln Race Course wraps up its first season under the management of Omaha Exposition and Racing this weekend with encouraging numbers. Last year, the track held a 37-day season under the guidance of the Nebraska State Fair Board. A 32-day meet this year will see nearly identical numbers for total ontrack handle, and offtrack wagering on the live product will surpass last year's figure on Friday night.

OPELOUSAS, La. - Friday night's featured eighth race at Evangeline Downs drew a competitive field of 10 starter allowance runners slated to go five furlongs on the turf.

CINCINNATI - Owner Ziba Graham, trainer Doug Cowans, and jockey Dean Sarvis have won a pair of stakes at River Downs recently, the $50,000 Hoover last Saturday with No Garlic and the $55,000 Cincinnatian two weeks ago with Festive Girl.

No Garlic, a 2-year-old colt, and Festive Girl, a 3-year-old filly, are full siblings bred by Graham. They were each sired by Habayeb and are out of Yellow Springs, a 19-year-old mare who has produced eight foals. Two of her other foals, M and Em and Cait, are stakes placed.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Jockey Aaron Gryder is taking the overland route to his next base, Remington Park, after the close of the Lone Star Park meet Sunday. He could spend a little time riding in Southern California and France before he gets settled in at Remington, the Oklahoma City track that won't begin its meet until Aug. 19.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Three of the first four finishers in the $54,404 Chris Loseth Stakes last Sunday at Hastings will likely renew acquaintances in the B.C. Cup Stellar's Jay on Aug. 2.

The connections of Dyna Stroll, who won the 1 1/16-mile race, are the only ones not committed. Instead, they are considering the possibility of heading right into the Grade 3, $300,000 Canadian Derby at Northlands Park on Aug. 21.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - One of the more eagerly anticipated rematches of the Louisiana Downs season remains on course for the $50,000 Laurel Lane Stakes later this month.

Do Dat Blues and Take Me Home Too, first and second here in a 2-year-old maiden race in June, and each an impressive winner since, are set to meet again in the six-furlong Laurel Lane for Louisiana-bred fillies July 31.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $200,000 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park on Saturday lost another stakes-winning contender Wednesday when trainer Bob Baffert opted to pass the race with Concord Point, winner of the Grade 3 Iowa Derby last month.

Earlier in the week, trainer Ron Ellis said that Golden Itiz, winner of the Grade 3 Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 19, would skip the race.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Nacho Friend earned an invitation to the $1 million Haskell with his second-place finish last weekend in the Long Branch Stakes. After studying the likely lineup for the Grade 1 Haskell for 3-year-olds on Aug. 1 at Monmouth Park, trainer Kelly Breen might respectfully decline the offer.

Expected runners in the Haskell include Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky, and Trappe Shot, who beat Nacho Friend by 2 1/2 lengths in the Long Branch.

AUBURN, Wash. - Vann Belvoir tops the Emerald Downs trainer standings heading into the final 41 days of the 89-day meeting. He would like to win the title, but there are bigger things on his mind these days, like trying to establish a training toehold in the Midwest. So for the time being, Belvoir, 36, is splitting time between his home base at Emerald and Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa.