The $150,000 Sunday Silence for 2-year-olds at Louisiana Downs on Sept. 20 picked up a major player on Friday when trainer Mike Maker said Night Action is being pointed for the 1 1/16-mile turf race. Night Action won the $200,000 Cradle Stakes at River Downs in his last start Sept. 1, and will attempt to give Maker his second straight win in the Sunday Silence. The trainer took the race last year with Cherokee Triangle.

AUBURN, Wash. - Larry Pierce, who will be inducted into the Washington Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame on Sept. 14, recalled the day in 1964 when he began riding at Exhibition Park in British Columbia as the contract apprentice for brother trainers Roy, Troy, and J.D. Taylor.

Pierce had ridden at Northwest bush tracks the year before and he also rode briefly at Turf Paradise, but he felt his Exhibition Park debut marked the beginning of his successful career.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Cloudy's Knight was the toast of the town last fall after recording his first Grade 1 victory at the advanced age of 7 here at Woodbine in the Canadian International.

But the current version of Cloudy's Knight, who will run in Sunday's Grade 1, $750,000 Northern Dancer, seems to be a far cry from the horse whose career campaign also included a win here in the Grade 2 Sky Classic and a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Nijinsky en route to a Sovereign Award as Canada's outstanding turf horse.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Until recently, British Columbia had been immune to the economic downturn in North America the past couple of years. With commodity prices going in the tank, however, and the Vancouver real estate market starting to head south, it appears the local economy could be headed for hard times. Also, horse sales across North America have mostly been soft, and the recent sale in Washington was a disaster with more than 43 percent of the horses being bought back.

The Chris McCarron influence is starting to take hold at American racetracks. A second graduate of the North American Racing Academy won a parimutuel race when Michael James captured the first race Thursday night at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

McCarron, the retired Hall of Fame jockey who founded and oversees NARA in Lexington, Ky., was on hand when James, 22, guided Lady Phoenix to a neck victory in just his third career mount.

"I'm very proud of him, very excited to see the hard work we've put into the school coming to fruition," McCarron said.

MIAMI - Yesbyjimminy has won three straight races, earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in his last two starts, and dominated the Major Moran overnight stakes last month, so it was surprising to see him still hanging around town instead of looking for greener and more lucrative pastures up north.

AUBURN, Wash. – Just Get’er Done heads a field of seven fillies and mares in Sunday’s Emerald Downs feature, a $17,500 claiming affair at 6 1/2 furlongs.

EDMONTON, Alberta – Sunday’s $50,000 Sales Stakes for 3-year-old colts and geldings drew six entrants, including stakes winners Brazen Son, Ballintoy, and Garys Buddy. The lineup also includes the improving Smile N Wave, who merits the title of the “now horse” off his steady rise from the lower claiming ranks.

The Sales Stakes, a one-mile race, runs as the eighth race and promises to be a competitive affair with Garys Buddy, winner of the 6 1/2-furlong Western Canada on July 1, expected to prompt the early fractions along with Alberta’s 2007 champion juvenile, Brazen Son.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – El Sinaloense will be heavily favored to win his fourth straight stakes race in the $60,000 CTHS Sales Stakes at Hastings on Sunday. The 6 1/2-furlong feature for Canadian-bred 2-year-old colts and geldings drew five horses, but El Sinaloense is in a class by himself. To be eligible to the race a horse must have gone through a Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society sale.

A gelding by Mud Route, El Sinaloense was purchased for $9,500 out of the 2007 sale by Juan Olmos, who is also the trainer of the talented gelding.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Woodbine Mile will not be the only stage for a clash here between New York trainers Rick Dutrow and Bobby Frankel.

But while Kip Deville, trained by Dutrow, and Ventura, trained by Frankel, will be the principal players in the Woodbine Mile the situation will be different in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer.

Dutrow will send out Frost Giant, who is the 6-1 third choice for the $750,000 Northern Dancer, a 1 1/2-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and upward which attracted a field of 10.