POMONA, Calif. - Kelly Leak, the disqualified winner of the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes last month, will miss the $250,000 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 28.

Trainer Mike Machowsky said Wednesday that because he was discouraged by the colt's 10th-place finish in the Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 3, Kelly Leak was turned out for a two-week break on Sept. 9 and will return to Santa Anita next week.

"I wasn't happy with the way he ran," Machowsky said of the Del Mar Futurity. "He was too rank and too close to the pace. After that race, I thought I might regroup."

Jockey Louis Stokes, looking for a sweep of the two 2008 race meets at Thistledown, has opened a daylight lead in the standings. Stokes has won 39 races during the first 43 days of the 56-day Randall-Cranwood meeting. Luis Gonzalez is second with 33. Stokes has already won this year's Summit-Thistledown meeting at Thistledown.

For the entire Thistledown season, which began May 1, Stokes has a nine-winner advantage, 77-68, over Weldon Cloninger Jr.

Jeff Radosevich leads all trainers at the Randall-Cranwood meeting with 22 victories. Rodney Faulkner is second with 19.

A group of sharp runners meet in the Emerald Downs Friday feature.

The six-furlong $7,500 claimer includes the entry of Spitfire Slew, a winner of two of his past three, and Potrero Station, who has won two of his past four starts while hitting the board each time. The race also includes last-out winners Code Red and Woodland Breeze.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The presence of champion Indian Blessing in Saturday's Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont Park probably scared a lot of horsemen from running in the race. Bruce Levine is not among them.

Though his filly, Elope, has only run twice in her life - and just once for him - Levine has embraced the challenge of taking on the four-time Grade 1 winner Indian Blessing in the $150,000 Gallant Bloom at 6 1/2 furlongs.

"I'm not afraid of her," Levine said. "She's a real nice filly, but she's 3. We'll find out on Saturday. I'll be there."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs announced plans Wednesday for a Kentucky Derby prep race at Kempton Park in Great Britain in which the winner would secure automatic entry into the field for the 2009 Kentucky Derby on May 2.

The $150,000 Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes (KDCS) will be contested going 1 1/8 miles over the Polytrack at Kempton Park on Wednesday, March 18, and the race is structured similarly to the Win and You're In racing series that leads up to the Breeders' Cup.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Rahy's Attorney did win to get in, but he's not going to the Breeders' Cup.

Although he earned a guaranteed berth in the Breeders' Cup Mile with his victory in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 7, Rahy's Attorney will not be making the trip to Santa Anita.

"It would just cost too much," said trainer Ian Black, citing the $180,000 supplementary fee required to make Rahy Attorney's Breeders' Cup-eligible and the associated costs of the trip for horse, help, and entourage.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Apprentice rider Brandon Meier has made the leap from Chicago into the greater racing world sooner rather than later, shifting his tack to California, where he will begin accepting mounts next Wednesday, opening day of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The field for the Grade 3, $250,000 British Columbia Derby on Sunday is shaping up, and the one thing that is crystal clear is that there will be a very fast pace.

The speedsters Wink at the Girls and Fear No Evil appear to have just one way of going. According to trainer Frank Lucarelli, any horse that wants the lead is going to have to deal with Fear No Evil

"He is going to the front," Lucarelli said. "We have tried to rate him in the past, but it just didn't work out."

A month ago, trainer Larry Jones was certain he wouldn't be taking 3-year-old filly Proud Spell to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup. Jones hasn't changed his mind, but he's now at least mulling over the idea.

In what could either be her final start of the season or a stepping-stone to the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic on Oct. 24, Proud Spell looms an overwhelming favorite over six other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's Grade 2, $750,000 Fitz Dixon Cotillion Stakes at Philadelphia Park.

At the beginning of the year, there was speculation that jockey Patrick Valenzuela might be out of racing for good. His conditional license in California had been revoked in late December following a drunken driving charge, and he was not riding. He launched a comeback at Louisiana Downs in June and has steadily gained momentum. On Thursday, the California Horse Racing Board is scheduled to consider his request for reinstatement during an executive session, just as Valenzuela opens the race week three wins shy of his 4,000th career victory.