SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mani Bhavan transferred her brilliant speed from Delaware Park to Saratoga on Wednesday, leading virtually every step of the way to take the Grade 2, $150,000 Adirondack Stakes by seven lengths.

Breaking from the outside post in an eight-horse field under Alan Garcia, Mani Bhavan jumped out to a one-length lead by running a quarter-mile in 22.36 seconds, then kept on cruising through fractions of 46.10 seconds and 1:11.15 before covering the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:18.09. She returned $19.40

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sweet Vendetta was able to avoid the heavyweights of the 3-year-old filly division when she ran and won the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in May.

In Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama, when Sweet Vendetta is scheduled to make her first start since the Black-Eyed Susan, she should find out exactly where she stands among the elite in the division, as her rivals will include dual Grade 1 winner Music Note and Grade 1 winners Proud Spell and Little Belle. Mushka, a Grade 2 winner, is also expected in what figures to be a five-horse field.

With only three weeks left in the River Downs meet, attention is now being focused on the highlight of the meet on Sept. 1, the $200,000 Miller Lite Cradle Stakes, the longest continuously sponsored race in North America.

Last Saturday was the Cradle Prep, a $25,000 turf allowance for 2-year-olds going a mile, a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Cradle. Longshot Chilliness lit up the tote board, returning $111.40.

Jockey Terry Houghton has taken the reins at Pinnacle Race Course's inaugural meet, winning 34 races through the first 16 days of racing. Last summer, Houghton rode at various Midwest tracks, such as Canterbury Park, Presque Isle Downs, and Indiana Downs as he was one of seven riders banned from riding in some states, including Michigan, due to an investigation into unusual betting patterns on Great Lakes Downs races in 2006.

Moon Odyssey will face a field of seven in the Van Berg Derby on Friday night as Columbus rolls into the second half of its six-week season, which offers at least a pair of stakes races each weekend.

Canterbury Park will honor its 2008 inductees to the track's Hall of Fame this Saturday evening with a gathering of past inductees. Honored this year will be the late Kenny Schoepf and the Thoroughbred filly Turbo Launch.

The cast has been set for Saturday's $200,000 Evangeline Mile Handicap. A total of nine passed the entry box on Wednesday for the meeting's richest event.

Sonoma Cat will be the co-highweight on Saturday at 118 pounds along with Missed the Prom. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Sonoma Cat defeated Missed the Prom by three-quarters of a length in the $50,000 Oak Hall Stakes at Evangeline last month. In his previous start, Sonoma Cat scored at Churchill Downs in allowance company in mid-June. Asmussen has given a return call to Randall Toups.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Add Grasshopper to the lineup for the Grade 3, $300,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

Trainer Neil Howard confirmed Wednesday that the 4-year-old colt, who competed in three straight Grade 1 races, will be heading to the Jersey Shore for the 1 1/8-mile race.

Most recently, Grasshopper was a distant third, beaten 13 1/4 lengths by Commentator, in the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

"If he runs the same race as the Whitney, it should suit him well," Howard said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Regardless of the outcome of the race, Misty Ocean will play a major role in Saturday's $350,000 Del Mar Oaks.

Misty Ocean is expected to set the pace, and, judging from her form earlier this summer, it is possible that she could lead throughout the Grade 1 race over 1 1/8 miles on turf. Such a strategy worked in the Grade 2 Honeymoon Handicap at Hollywood Park over 1 1/8 miles on turf on June 7, the same distance as the Del Mar Oaks.

HENDERSON, Ky. - Fancy Fusaichi, a romping winner of her stakes debut in her last start, will be the starting highweight Saturday in the Grade 3 Gardenia Handicap, the only graded race of the 39-day meet at Ellis Park.