Tiz Now Tiz Then was due to arrive at Remington Park on Friday to headline the $350,000 Oklahoma Derby. He could face as many as 11 rivals in Sunday's 1 1/8-mile race, which will be part of an all-stakes pick four with the $125,000 Remington Green at 1 1/16 miles on turf, the $125,000 MEC Mile for 2-year-olds, and the $75,000 Sprint Championship.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kelly's Landing is proof that you can't keep a good horse down. In a 24-race career dating to April 2004, the Summerplace Farm homebred has managed to knock out more than $1.8 million amid a series of stops and starts.

Kelly's Landing has had four layoffs of at least 6 1/2 months amid a career that peaked with a victory in the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen in March 2007. The latest layoff ensued after the May 31 Aristides Handicap at Churchill Downs, when the 7-year-old gelding finished a distant fourth.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Danny Vella won both the River Memories and Maple Leaf with Like a Gem at Woodbine last fall when the races were run two weeks apart.

Vella won't be able to pull off quite the same coup this year, since the River Memories and the Maple Leaf are being run on consecutive afternoons, and will have to try to pull off the double with different fillies here this weekend.

Pleasant Review and It's True Love are Vella's entrants for Saturday's $100,000 River Memories, a one-mile overnight turf stakes for fillies and mares.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Saturday not only marks the conclusion of the 2008 season at Louisiana Downs, but also the end of Doug Bredar's tenure as racing secretary. Bredar assumes the same position at Gulfstream Park, which begins its next season in early January.

Bredar's two years at Louisiana Downs have been successful. In a national environment that has not been kind to the fortunes of most tracks, Louisiana Downs has seen an increase in handle in each of the last two years, including this season's 3 percent rise.

STICKNEY, Ill. - There was nowhere to go but up for an Illinois-bred 3-year-old gelding named Wildeyedsouthernboy.

Out on the Arlington track for his career debut back in June, Wildeyedsouthernboy went through saddling in the paddock, the trip through the tunnel out onto the racetrack, and the post parade before his first crowd of onlookers without a hitch. This was no surprise to trainer Hugh Robertson, who had no concerns leading the horse over for the first time.

"He really never does anything wrong," Robertson said.

As a prelude to Saturday night’s West Virginia Breeders Classics program, featuring nine stakes worth a collective $1.8 million, Charles Town will run three $50,000 stakes sponsored by the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association on its Friday night card.

Four contenders appear difficult to separate in the 1 1/8-mile HBPA Governor’s Cup (race 8), which drew a full field of 10 older horses.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The absence of Big Brown from the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25 may lead Awesome Gem to start in the race for the second consecutive year.

Third in the 2007 BC Classic at Monmouth Park, Awesome Gem was pre-entered for the Classic and the $2 million Mile on turf Tuesday, trainer Craig Dollase said.

"We'll take a shot in the Classic," Dollase said. "With Big Brown out, that helps his chances there."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine should be well represented at this year's Breeders' Cup, with seven locally based runners scheduled to make appearances at Santa Anita next Friday or Saturday.

Bear Now, a Kentucky-bred who is aiming for the Oct. 24 Ladies' Classic, and Fatal Bullet, a Florida-bred who is on target for the Oct. 25 Sprint, both trained by Reade Baker, checked into Santa Anita on Oct. 4.

STICKNEY, Ill. – Jockey E.T. Baird and trainer Larry Rivelli both said the same thing in the winner’s circle shortly after Strait of Mewsina had scored a 19-1 upset in the Hawthorne Derby here on Saturday: The long-winded turf horse was likely to be a better racehorse next year at 4. Still, Rivelli said Tuesday morning that Strait of Mewsina was likely to get one more race during his 3-year-old season, with a start in the Dec. 12 McKnight Handicap at Calder penciled in as a likely spot.

City Style, who won the richest 2-year-old stakes of the Louisiana Downs meet last month in the $150,000 Sunday Silence, could be headed to the Breeders' Cup. He was pre-entered Tuesday in the $1 million Juvenile Turf, said Cash Asmussen, an assistant and consultant to his wife, trainer Cheryl Asmussen. A final decision on the horse's status was to be made following a workout at his Retama Park base on Wednesday.

"We'll see how he progresses, and what the entries look like," Asmussen said.