SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - TVG and its parent company Betfair, the largest online wagering businesses in the U.S. and around the world, have entered into an agreement with the New York Racing Association to bump the purse of the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park on Oct. 3 from $600,000 to $1 million provided both Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta showed up to run, it was announced Friday.

By Mary Rampellini

Love Samba emerged as the fastest qualifier for next month's Grade 1, $2 million All-American Futurity for Quarter Horses on Thursday, when she won her 440-yard trial for the race in 21.20 seconds. She won by a length over Swingin Daddyo (21.35), who also made the Sept. 7 finale. The horses ran in the 19th of 20 trial races held for the All-American, all over a fast track at Ruidoso Downs. In all, 191 horses competed for the 10 spots in the finals.

Sing Baby Sing appears to be sitting on tilt for his first race since , but his trainer, Jack Bruner, will not be taking anything for granted Saturday night when he sends the horse out in the $200,000 Remington Park Sprint Championship.

"Right now, I'm very happy with the way he's coming back," he said. "I think he's as good as he was last year, and maybe a little better. We'll see where we're at Saturday night for sure. It's a tough spot to bring him back in. It's a tough race."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It took until Day 20 of the meet, but there was finally a performance by a 2-year-old colt at Saratoga worth getting excited about.

D'Funnybone, purchased privately by Paul Pompa Jr. last month from Florida-based connections, ran away and hid from a seemingly decent group of juveniles to win the by 10 1/2 lengths. Zip Quik got up for second by a nose over Fearless Cowboy. They were followed in the order of finish by Insightful, Activity Report, Flatter Than Me, Tiny Woods, and Thiskyhasnolimit.

Dave Frizzell resigned as the racing secretary at Presque Isle Downs on Thursday. Frizzell took the job in 2008, the Erie, Pa., racino s second season of racing.

I have done all I can do for Presque Isle and need to find something closer to home. I need to spend some time with my family, Frizzell said. I wish them all the luck in the world.

Frizzell resides in Pendleton, Ind. The track s general manager, Debbie Howells, said a replacement should be named shortly.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Synthetic surfaces at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita are undergoing renovations this month.

Santa Anita, which is hosting the Breeders' Cup on Nov. 6-7, will close its main track Monday through Friday of next week to add polymer and binder to the Pro-Ride synthetic surface, track president Ron Charles said on Wednesday.

Charles said that Ian Pearse, the founder of Pro-Ride, is arriving from Australia this weekend to oversee the maintenance. The project is expected to add vibrancy to the surface, Charles said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Marlang has yet to put his best foot forward this season.

But Debbie England, who trains the homebred Marlang for Gustav Schickedanz, believes the 4-year-old colt will be ready to come to the fore in Sunday's Grade 2, $250,000 Sky Classic.

"He's really good right now," said England, who sent out Marlang to breeze five furlongs in 1:00.80 on the main track last Sunday in his final Sky Classic tune-up.

The Sky Classic, a 1 3/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up, attracted a field of eight.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Perhaps if the rest of the year hadn't gone so well, the current cold streak trainer Bruce Levine is enduring this summer at Saratoga would be more troubling.

Through the first 20 days of the meet, Levine is winless with 34 starters, the most of any trainer who has yet to find the Saratoga's winner's circle. Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles to the south, Levine is atop the trainers' standings at Monmouth Park, with 31 wins from 97 starters.

Sometimes when he's riding in a race at Ellis Park, Jon Court gets an unmistakable case of deja vu.

"In a delightful kind of way," said Court. "It's a different atmosphere, that's for sure."

After he rode with a healthy measure of success for five years (2004-08) on the rugged Southern California circuit, Court and his wife, Krystal Lynn, decided to move closer to their roots. Court rode at the Oaklawn Park meet that began last January, and then the couple returned with their young daughter, Aubrey, to their longtime home in Shelbyville, Ky., in April.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There is news this week of 10-year-old Better Talk Now's imminent retirement out east. Here at Arlington, there also are old-timers still going strong enough for stakes, with no one in the camp of either Silverfoot or Coach Jimi Lee talking retirement just yet.

What Silverfoot's trainer Dallas Stewart said Thursday, in fact, was that the 9-year-old gray gelding is headed back to Chicago from his base at Churchill Downs early next month to try and win the Stars and Stripes Handicap for the second year in a row.