BOSSIER CITY, La. - Saturday is appropriately called Prelude Day at Louisiana Downs. Not only will the winner of the $100,000 Prelude likely come back in next month's Grade 2, $750,000 Super Derby, the other three stake races Saturday are also expected to produce key players in the four turf stakes that are slated for the Super Derby undercard.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Okay, so Jonathan Sheppard lost a race at Arlington last weekend. Before Saturday, Sheppard had won the Chicago Handicap with Informed Decision and taken the Arlington Handicap with Just as Well with his only starters here this summer. But though Just as Well finished second in the Arlington Million, it had to feel like a defeat without too much sting.

DEL MAR, Calif. - It seems odd that in Jerry Hollendorfer's career the trainer has won only five stakes at Del Mar.

Hollendorfer - who has won 200 races annually for 12 years, major stakes such as the Kentucky Oaks and Santa Anita Handicap, and totally dominated the Northern California trainer standings - won two stakes at Del Mar last year, the first time he won more than one stakes at the meeting.

A new date and purse for the Louisiana Derby announced on Tuesday afternoon are only part of significant changes to the Fair Grounds and its stakes schedule. Following through on a commitment it made last racing season, Fair Grounds has been engaged in dirt-track renovations since July.

MIAMI - Trainer Barry Rose will send out Joanie's Catch as one of the favorites in the Susan's Girl Stakes here at Calder on Aug. 29. But Rose will be unable to attend the race. Instead, he will be at Saratoga, where he will try to win a Grade 1 race that same afternoon with his vastly improved Prince Joshua in the King's Bishop.

AUBURN, Wash. - August isn't Howard Belvoir Appreciation Month. Not officially, anyway.

But Belvoir, a veteran of nearly five decades on the West Coast racing scene, has done some of his best work in this very month, culminating last summer when Wasserman - owned, bred, and trained by Belvoir - won the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile, and Assessment, also trained by Belvoir, finished fourth.

It's about the time of year when 3-year-old fillies start trying their elders in stakes company. Given no better alternative, trainer Charlie Lopresti said he won't mind giving Lady's Laughter a shot at some fairly accomplished mares when the signature race of the Ellis Park meet, the Grade 3, $100,000 Gardenia Stakes, is run Saturday for the 28th time.

"She's fit enough now, and I know she has the talent," said Lopresti. "Looking at this race, I know it's going to be tough, but this is a pretty nice filly here."

Gulfstream Park will put up the nomination fees for some of the top horses in training - Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird, Summer Bird, Quality Road, and Zenyatta - for next year's Grade 1 Donn Handicap, the track announced Wednesday.

The nomination fee for the Donn, to be run Feb. 6, is $500.

"Regardless of whether these four superstars meet in the Travers, we want them to have the opportunity to meet in the biggest race for older horses next winter," said Gulfstream's racing operations manager, Bernie Hettel.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Ontario Debutante and the Belle Mahone will form a stakes doubleheader here Saturday, and both events drew interesting lineups.

Franny Freud, who won her maiden at Belmont by seven lengths and then shipped here to finish second in the June 28 My Dear, and locally based Maritime Passion, 2 for 2 including a win in the July 12 Shady Well, figure to attract most of the play in the $150,000 Ontario Debutante.

Credit Crunch, another invader from south of the border, will be coming in well under the radar for the six-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The Del Mar Oaks began as a dirt race and was moved to the turf in 1965. The Ramona Handicap, now known as the John Mabee Stakes, also began as a dirt race and was moved to the turf in 1970. In the nearly 40 years since then, only three fillies - Country Queen, Amorama, and the great Hall of Famer Flawlessly, who won the Ramona three times - have been able to win the Oaks at age 3 and return to win the Mabee the following year. On Sunday at Del Mar, Magical Fantasy will try to add her name to that exclusive list.