GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Tom Durant and trainer Jack Bruner are in the midst of one of their strongest meets ever at Lone Star Park, and the best horse in the barn hasn't run yet. Sing Baby Sing, who last year was a troubled sixth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, is about a month away from racing and has a longterm goal of returning to the $2 million championship race this November at Santa Anita.

"You always want to get back to the Breeders' Cup," Bruner said. "Once you've been, you want to get back. If he'll show that he can, I'd like to try it."

ELMONT, N.Y. - Summer will officially arrive this weekend, but it won't feel that way Thursday at Belmont Park, where a forecast for cool and wet weather hangs over the featured $65,000 High Ice Stakes like a dark cloud.

If the six-furlong overnight stakes for New York-breds remains on turf, Karakorum Elektra, Meriwether Jessica, and Mohegan Sky - a trio of fillies and mares who will face males and race as separate betting interests for Linda Rice - will have the entry of Silver Timber and Redefined to beat.

Summer Bird will likely have his first work since winning the Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Louisiana Downs. The horse is based at the Bossier City, La., track, and his trainer, Tim Ice, tentatively plans to breeze him five furlongs. Summer Bird is to make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell at Monmouth Park on Aug. 2.

"He's doing good," Ice said Tuesday. "I may work him this Saturday. He's feeling pretty good, so more than likely he's going to have to work this weekend."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shut It Down breezed four furlongs on the training track here in 48.80 seconds Tuesday in preparation for Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate.

The entrants will be announced Thursday morning at the annual Queen's Plate breakfast. A field of 14 is expected for the 1 1/4-mile race, which is the first leg of the triple crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.

The double draw method will be employed, with the order of selection being determined by a blind draw and the connections of each entrant then choosing their own post position.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Judging by the company she's been keeping, Wiggle and a Wink seems poised to earn her diploma in Thursday's first race, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden event for fillies and mares.

Wiggle and a Wink wintered with trainer Mark Casse at Santa Anita, where she was a minor player in three starts on turf and Pro-Ride. She ran a winning race in her first Woodbine appearance this year, in which she surrendered a clear lead in the stretch to Woodsmoke, who has since won the Fury and Alywow stakes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The historical impact of night racing at Churchill Downs has drawn the inevitable comparison to the Chicago Cubs yielding to longstanding tradition by hosting nighttime baseball for the first time on Aug. 8, 1988, at Wrigley Field.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Well into its third season, Arlington Park's Polytrack era has unfolded with far fewer problems than at many racetracks converted from dirt to synthetic surfaces. But, bowing to the reality of a surface that had become firmer and faster than many horsemen preferred, Arlington has purchased and implemented a new piece of maintenance equipment. The device, called a cultivator, arrived at Arlington on June 3, and appears to have slowed the Polytrack, especially during morning workouts.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Change has been a constant in the career of Mark Casse, who has emerged as Canada's top trainer with Sovereign Awards in the past three seasons.

From his era as a leader in Kentucky and through his current successful campaigns here over the past decade, Casse has been open to new ideas and, more recently, new technologies to achieve his goals.

The current goal for Casse, who was born in Indianapolis in 1961, is to win a Queen's Plate.

AUBURN, Wash. - What's Yacht Spotter, one of the nation's best turf horses, doing at Emerald Downs? There's no grass for him to run on - the turf course on the original blueprints was scratched, a cost-cutting casualty back in 1996.

But Yacht Spotter is a front-running demon around two turns, and trainer Frank Lucarelli figures his 5-year-old gelding can make a smooth transition to dirt and become a leading contender for the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile, now less than two months away.

The 2009 Northern California Fairs racing season opens at a familiar location Thursday when the circuit starts its summer season at the San Joaquin County Fair in Stockton.

Stockton had been the traditional opener until last year, when a revised schedule left the fair with September racing dates. Returning to a more traditional schedule, Stockton seems ready to provide a jump-start over last year's summer-long season.