ELMONT, N.Y. - Michael Moreno purchased Elusive Bluff for $600,000 after the colt won his debut, and the California-based owner began collecting on his investment Wednesday when Elusive Bluff got up in the final two strides to beat Show Me the Cash in the Grade 3, $159,300 Pilgrim Stakes at Belmont Park.

The victory secured Elusive Bluff a spot in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, to be run Oct. 25 at Santa Anita. The Pilgrim, a Win and You're In race, was postponed from Sunday to Wednesday due to wet weather.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It is not unprecedented for someone to walk through the glass doors of the Keeneland jockeys' room with unbridled confidence. Pat Day did it for years, and riders such as Jerry Bailey, Gary Stevens, and Shane Sellers also knew the feeling well.

Robby Albarado has every right to be brimming with confidence as the 17-day Keeneland meet begins Friday - and so he is. That's what winning major races aboard Curlin and becoming a perennial leader among North American jockeys will do to a guy.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Idiot Proof, runner-up in the 2007 Breeders' Cup Sprint and the $2 million Golden Shaheen in Dubai in March, is switching to the grass for the 2008 Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

Trainer Clifford Sise said Wednesday that Idiot Proof will make his next start in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside course. Sise was discouraged by Idiot Proof's fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Ancient Title Stakes here last Saturday in his first start over Santa Anita's Pro-Ride synthetic track.

Poor Cigar.

A week after Curlin broke his earnings record, his mark for consecutive wins is in jeopardy. Peppers Pride will be a strong favorite to win her 17th consecutive race Saturday at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., and if she does she will set a modern standard for a North American-based Thoroughbred.

She now shares the record of 16 with Cigar, Citation, Hallowed Dreams, and Mister Frisky. Her trainer, Joel Marr, said he vividly remembers Cigar's bid for a 17th win back in 1996 in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - If there is safety in numbers, Louisiana Downs must be one of the most secure racing venues in the land these days.

Taking full advantage of its position on the calendar as the only one of the state's four racetracks currently conducting a meeting, the track has gotten overwhelming response from horsemen at the entry box lately. Friday's 10-race program alone drew 172 entries, counting also-eligibles and horses excluded from races that overfilled.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Heading into the weekend, trainer Mark Casse does not have a definitive Breeders' Cup candidate in his barn here at Woodbine.

But by the time the stakes action wraps up here and at Keeneland late Sunday afternoon, Casse's Breeders' Cup could runneth over with a handful of prospects.

PHOENIX – Turf Paradise kicks offs its 53rd season Friday with a new voice, new eyes, and a heavy heart.

The 156-day 2008-09 season commences without regular track announcer Luke Kruytbosch and without longtime track photographer Jack Coady Sr., both of whom died this summer.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Trainer Mike Reavis strongly believed that after a troubled final season of dirt racing in 2006, Arlington Park needed to install the all-weather racing surface the track now employs.

"We like the Polytrack for a lot of reasons," Reavis said Wednesday morning at Hawthorne.

Horses are more likely to stay in off-the-turf races. Cancellations during the Arlington Polytrack era have been nonexistent.

But Reavis moved his large string to Hawthorne from Arlington as soon as the dirt track was open for training here in September.

ELMONT, N.Y. - In a span of 96 minutes on Sept. 14, trainer Tom Albertrani won a pair of juvenile filly maiden races at Belmont Park. Visually, it was hard to separate how good Royal Ballade and Gemswick Park looked. Time-wise and speed-figure wise, there appears to be a world of difference between the two.

Jeff Radosevich, the only horseman to win both riding and training titles in Thistledown history, is closing in on yet another milestone.

Radosevich, well on his way to his third consecutive season as Thistledown's leading trainer, was just eight winners short of his 1,000th career victory through Tuesday.

A 46-year-old native of Joliet, Ill., Radosevich rode for 16 years before retiring in 1993 to begin training. He was the winningest rider here in 1988.