J.D. Acosta is better known as the leading rider at Charles Town, but for the past two seasons, the 27-year-old jockey has also been the king of Maryland's last remaining bullring.

For the next couple of weekends, Acosta will be doing double duty, riding in the afternoons at Timonium and at night at Charles Town.

Timonium, which held its first meet in September 1887 and is the only state fair east of Texas still to offer Thoroughbred racing, opens its seven-day meet in conjunction with the Maryland State Fair on Friday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Allicansayis Wow and Lethal Heat chased Zenyatta in major stakes over the last three months, managing, at best, third-place finishes.

Their respective trainers are done with that career path for now. Heck, they figure it will be easier to send those two fillies against males in Saturday's $300,000 Del Mar Mile on turf.

Not that the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile is a free pass for either of them. The race is led by Monterey Jazz, the winner of the last month.

"It's Monterey Jazz; it's always somebody," said Patrick Biancone, who trains Allicansayis Wow.

The Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles April 10 will be the highlight of a 30-race stakes schedule worth a record $4.7 million next year at Oaklawn Park. The Hot Springs, Ark., track will begin its meet Jan. 15, 2010.

Jockey Angel Stanley put up some impressive numbers in the recent week of racing at Pinnacle Race Course, winning 13 races on four cards. Stanley now goes into the 13th week of racing here with 54 wins. He is currently third behind Jeffrey Skerrett, with 63 wins, and Freddie Mata, with 56.

On both Friday and Saturday, Stanley rode four winners from seven mounts. He had a riding triple on Monday, then settled for just one winner on Tuesday.

Mark Lemburg is enjoying his time on top of the trainer standings this year after being shut out at last year's meet in Columbus. Lemburg has been neck and neck with Rick Bogdanovich, a newcomer to the training ranks this year, for much of the season.

Entering the final two weekends of racing, Lemburg has a 9-8 advantage over Bogdanovich in what is still a wide- open race for the title. Kim Veerhusen has six wins and another four trainers are tied with five wins each.

River Downs in Cincinnati is a long way from Suffolk Downs in East Boston, Mass., and even farther from Lima, Peru. But that is the route that Edgar Paucar took to get to River Downs, and on Sunday he won six races there.

Paucar, 34, grew up in Lima and attended the jockey school there. It is the same school that produced Jorge Chavez, Edgar Prado, and Rafael Bejarano, who began his career at River Downs.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While the absence of Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird from the Grade 1, $1 million Shadwell Travers Stakes may have taken some of the starch out of the richest and most significant race of the day Saturday at Saratoga, the supporting card has come up strong, with a pair of Grade 1 races that feature a two-time Eclipse Award winner and the return of one of the top 2-year-olds from last year.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At Saratoga this summer, trainer Steve Asmussen is hoping to save some of the best for last. In addition to sending out Rachel Alexandra in the Grade 1, $750,000 Woodward Stakes on Sept. 5, he is hoping to nail down two more Grade 1 races the final two days of the meeting, with the filly Hot Dixie Chick in the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway Stakes on Sept. 6, and the colt Enumerate in the Grade 1, $300,000 Hopeful Stakes on closing day, Sept. 7.

No trainer will be more active on Retama Park's opening-night card Friday than J.R. Caldwell. Fresh off a career meet at Lone Star Park, the 34-year-old has horses in five of the track's nine races. Chief among his starters is Elitist. She is a top contender in the featured eighth race, an optional claimer for fillies and mares at a mile on turf that drew a full field of 12.

Caldwell went 14 for 64 during the Lone Star meet that ended July 26. He has since had his 20-horse stable settled in at Retama.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Field Commission finished a strong second when making his turf debut in the six-furlong Highlander here June 21. But when Field Commission returned to action July 19, he was back on Polytrack for the 6 1/2-furlong Bold Venture.

Trainer Danny Vella, who owns Field Commission in partnership with Ed Seltzer, also had entered the 4-year-old colt in the July 18 Ontario Jockey Club, a $100,000 overnight stakes for Ontario-foals over seven furlongs of turf.