ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Daylight Express, who has been knocking them dead in Barbados, checked in last weekend with an eye toward the Sept. 20 Woodbine Mile.

A Virginia-bred 4-year-old colt who is owned by Lord Michael Taylor and trained by Robert Peirce, Daylight Express has won four of his five races over the Garrison Savannah turf course this year, with the latest a 3 1/2-length romp over about one mile under his regular rider, Andy Ward.

The streak began in the Barbados Gold Cup, one of the country's most prestigious races, on March 7.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On paper, the task would appear daunting. A 3-year-old filly taking on a group of older male horses who have combined to win 23 stakes - 13 graded - and earn $9,011,613.

DEL MAR, Calif. - As Colonel John and Richard's Kid were about to have their final workouts Tuesday morning for the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic, the maiden filly Bell Canyon Road broke down on the Del Mar main track. Fifteen minutes later, after Bell Canyon Road was removed in a horse ambulance, both horses worked, and worked well. But the drama of the morning left Eoin Harty, the trainer of Colonel John, and Bob Baffert, who trains Richard's Kid, unnerved.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It's a nice idea, for a racetrack to finish off a meeting with a bang, not a whimper. But for that to happen at the 2009 Arlington Park meet, which concludes Sept. 27, the pace of entries will need to pick up considerably. Even carding just eight races, even with Wednesday racing having been dropped starting this week, there were just 55 horses entered on the Thursday program at Arlington. That is fewer than 6.9 entries per race, and until race 8, which drew nine entries, all the races are made up of six- and seven-horse fields.

Turfway Park and Kentucky horsemen have agreed to put off a possible purse reduction by agreeing to a contract extension that keeps purses at or near their 2008-09 levels through the winter-spring meet, which ends April 1, 2010, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the Kentucky division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

KHPBA president Rick Hiles said last week that Turfway management was seeking to cut annual purses by about $700,000, or roughly 5 percent. Turfway president Bob Elliston said he was unable to comment on the matter.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - She Be Wild made her first start in a $40,000 maiden claimer. She's not a classic-looking, imposing horse and is by the young, unheralded sire Offlee Wild. But ignore all that, says trainer Wayne Catalano. She Be Wild looks like the real deal.

"I really think this one's a good one," Catalano said, reached by phone early Tuesday afternoon. "She goes by the name Little Rachel."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The Pennsylvania Derby may not have Grade 1 status or the prestige of the Travers, but it does have the same $1 million purse and will attract several 3-year-olds based at Saratoga to Philadelphia Park on Labor Day, including the Todd Pletcher-trained pair of Join in the Dance and Denver and Steve Asmussen's West Virginia Derby winner Soul Warrior.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - The 10,351 fans who came to watch the Festival of Champions card at Canterbury Park were treated to several memorable performances on the Sunday card dedicated to runners bred in Minnesota.

On a day when favorites ruled, Bet Your Boots began the proceedings with a popular win by winning the $60,000 Northern Lights Futurity.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park concluded its 2009 meeting on Sunday, posting some expected declines in handle, though seeing an increase in average attendance this season.

The 2009 Canterbury Park race meeting featured 62 days of racing, five fewer than in 2008, and attracted 339,852 fans for an average daily attendance of 5,481, a 1.7 percent increase from the previous year's daily average at a 67-day meet.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Dean Henry gave trainer Tom Albertrani his first win of the meet when outfinishing Yet Again to register a head decision in Monday's $82,950 Saratoga Dew Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares. My Dinah, who opened a seemingly insurmountable lead at midstretch, faltered suddenly in late stretch and finished another head further back in third.