Attendance and handle figures for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore skewed the overall results for the track's 20-day meet, but in opposite ways, according to figures provided by the track Wednesday.

Average daily attendance at Pimlico shot up 9.7 percent, from 7,891 last year to 8,660, with the increase entirely due to 17,000 more people in attendance on Preakness Day. For the meet, total attendance was 173,200, up 15,377 compared with last year's total attendance of 157,823.

River Downs has named the seventh race on Friday in honor of Richard "Dickie" Burge, who was around the racetrack for 60 of his 75 years. Burge died from complications related to heart failure last Sunday evening.

Burge was the longtime valet of jockey Perry Ouzts, who has won 22 riding titles at River Downs and multiple titles at Beulah Park, Latonia, and Turfway Park while Burge was his valet.

Burge retired form the jockeys' room four years ago and became a placing judge.

ELMONT, N.Y. - In what amounted to little more than a public workout, the filly Franny Freud cruised to a six-length victory over five males in Wednesday's $100,000 New York Stallion Stakes at Belmont Park.

The New York Stallion Stakes was opened up to both sexes after gender-restricted races failed to fill with enough entries to be carded for Sunday. Though 10 were entered for Wednesday's seven-furlong race on turf, the field scratched down to six, in part because of the presence of Franny Freud, a Grade 2 winner.

Trainer Brett Creighton has a hot hand at Prairie Meadows, where five of his last six starters have won. That group includes Humble Destin, who scored a mild upset in last Saturday's Prairie Express, and Humble Smarty, who was .41 of a second off the track record at 5 1/2 furlongs in a starter allowance on the same card.

"I've just been putting them in the right spots . . . and having good help. That makes all the difference in the world," said Creighton, who is 6 for 13 at the meet with a return on investment of $4.27.

Trainer Dan Francisco has five promising 2-year-olds in futurity trials at Los Alamitos on Friday evening. Whether he will still train that group on Saturday morning is unknown.

Francisco's juveniles are entered in divisions of the $50,000 Los Alamitos Claiming Futurity over 350 yards. The 10 fastest qualifiers from the four trials, regardless of finishing positions, will be eligible for the final on June 12. But every horse in those trials is eligible to be claimed for $12,500 on Friday, meaning they could have a new owner or trainer in the final.

Tenth Power, voted claimer of the year at the recently concluded Fonner Park meeting, continued his winning ways in Lincoln last Sunday by winning his sixth straight race without a loss this year.

Tenth Power, 6 for 6 this season, is now tied for third nationally with two other horses for most wins this year. He is the only one of the top five leaders with a perfect record.

Apprentice jockey Jansen Melancon,son of longtime Evangeline Downs rider Gerard Melancon and a regular in the local jockey colony last summer, will spend this summer riding at Delaware Park. The younger Melancon had a useful winter at Fair Grounds, winning 15 races in that competitive environment, before moving on to Indiana Downs this spring.

"He has his bug until August," said the elder Melancon this past weekend. "He is going to have Bobby Klesaris as agent. We are excited about him going out on his own this year. Hopefully, he can do some good there."

Canterbury Park is beginning to earn a reputation as a chalk-player's best friend. Favorites won 62 percent of the races on opening weekend, and after two weeks of racing, winning favorites are still clicking at 50 percent (25 for 50), well above the national average.

In 2001, 35 percent of the favorites won at Canterbury. That number grew to almost 45 percent over the past two seasons, and seems to be taking another step up this season.

The most famous race for

Quarter Horses is getting a future wager. Fans of the All American Futurity can bet on the Labor Day classic starting in July. It will be a first for the Grade 1, $2 million race in one of several upgrades for the Ruidoso Downs meet that opens Friday. The 60-date season for Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds will close Sept 6 .

Saturday's two Grade 3 Polytrack stakes were drawn on Wednesday, and while the one-mile Hanshin lacks luster, the 1 1/8-mile Matron drew 12 horses, and looks wildly competitive.

The Hanshin drew nine entrants, but Recapturetheglory, who does not seem to care for synthetic tracks, was cross-entered in a Prairie Meadows stakes Saturday night. Trainer Mike Stidham could conceivably send out the top two betting choices in the Hanshin, Gran Estreno and Tybalt.