Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., will draw more than 150 horseplayers from at least 17 different states and Canada for this weekend's qualifying tournament for the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship.

There were 152 players signed on for the qualifier as of Wednesday morning, with the two-day tournament to begin Saturday and run through Sunday. The top three finishers will advance to the finale at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas on Jan. 29-30.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Bob Holthus once was a mainstay of the Chicago circuit, but that might as well have been several lifetimes ago. Waves of horse trainers have come and gone since Holthus spent the better part of 11 years at Arlington Park and Hawthorne in the 1970s and early 1980s, a time when the International Festival of Racing was only a twinkle in someone's eye.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - According to trainer Cindy Krasner, Krazy Koffee came out of his win in the $110,920 B.C. Cup Classic on Monday in great shape and will be pointed to the $50,000 S.W. Randall Plate on Sept. 7. The Randall will be one of five stakes races on Labor Day, and many of the horses that ran in the seven stakes on Monday will be running back on the holiday.

The B.C. Cup Classic was the first win for Krazy Koffee since he beat Wink at the Girls in the Grade 3 B.C. Derby last September.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Last weekend was crunch time for many of Louisiana's 2-year-olds. With a pair of stakes at Evangeline Downs and another two at Louisiana Downs, it was time to see which were ready to take their game up a notch.

One filly in particular made a major step forward: The Rumor's True. A daughter of Kafwain trained by Steve Duke, she charged from off the pace to win the $100,000 filly division of John Franks Memorial Sales Stakes at Evangeline last Friday and has the Donnie Wilhite Memorial at Louisiana Downs on Aug. 15 at a mile on the turf as her next objective.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - C Karma is back in town with trainer Greg De Gannes and will be looking to get back on track in Friday's one-mile turf prep for the Ontario Colleen, to be run Aug. 30.

Bred in Florida, C Karma began her career here and has made 7 of her 12 starts for the Woodbine-based trainer. She also made three starts with her owner and breeder, Pamela Edel, as the trainer of record, and her last two came for Manuel Estevez.

In her last race for De Gannes, C Karma finished seventh in the Sweetest Chant over one mile on turf at Gulfstream in January.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With the rail and the outside post positions remaining and Commentator's name still having not been called, Tom Durkin, emceeing the draw for Saturday's $750,000 Whitney Handicap, asked Nick Zito, trainer of Commentator, what post he'd prefer.

"It doesn't matter," Zito said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Finallymadeit, a multiple graded-stakes winner and $1 million earner, fractured his left front cannon bone during a workout Tuesday morning over the main track and had to be euthanized, trainer Tim Ritvo said Wednesday. Finallymadeit had been expected to run in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

Opening week of the 2009 Saratoga meeting showed a significant gain in attendance and marginal gains in both ontrack and all-sources handle compared with the corresponding period last summer, according to figures released by the New York Racing Association.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Eoin Harty and jockey Aaron Gryder have searched high and low, but can't come up with a reason for why Well Armed threw in such a stinker on Sunday in the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar. Well Armed finished last as the 3-5 favorite in his first start since capturing the Dubai World Cup by 14 lengths in March.

Star Guitar is building a Louisiana-bred stakes record to rival that of Superior Storm's.

He is now 6 for 6 in statebred company after his more than eight-length romp in last weekend's $100,000 Louisiana Cup Classic at Louisiana Downs. Superior Storm was also a winner on the program of Louisiana-bred stakes, improving her record in Louisiana-bred company to 10 for 10.