DEL MAR, Calif. - The depth of Joseph LaCombe's racing stable will be evident in the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity next Wednesday.

LaCombe owns Azul Leon, who was promoted from second to first via disqualification in the Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 10, and Escalon, an exciting maiden race winner on Aug. 1. As of Wednesday, Escalon was expected to start in the Del Mar Futurity, while Azul Leon may be held out of that race in favor of Norfolk Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, according to LaCombe's son, Joe.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sugar Bay and Verdana Bold, who were separated by a nose as the one-two finishers in the seven-furlong Duchess Aug. 9, will meet again on different terms at Woodbine on Saturday.

The surface this time is turf and the distance is one mile for the Ontario Colleen, a $150,000 stakes for 3-year-old fillies that attracted a field of 13.

Sugar Bay, an Ontario-bred homebred who races for George Strawbridge Jr. and is trained by Mac Benson, is coming off back-to-back wins at seven furlongs, with the first coming in a first-level allowance here July 18.

A young girl sustained a broken arm and two other children had minor injuries after a horse in Tuesday's first race jumped the outside rail and crashed into a shed at Pinnacle Race Course, jockey agent Jeff Franklin said. All three children were treated at a local hospital and released.

Vanessa, Jesus, and Belse Romero - the children of Alfredo Romero, who gallops horses for trainer Charlie Williams - were with their mother, Veronica, in a lean-to that serves as the clocker's stand and is along the outside rail, just before the five-furlong pole.

Changing dynamics in the Southwest and Midwest have combined to alter dramatically the makeup of the Retama Park backstretch for its meet that opens Friday night. Nationally prominent trainers Steve Asmussen and Bret Calhoun will both have divisions at the San Antonio-area track this season, while a handful of horsemen from Louisiana and jurisdictions farther north are also sending barns back to Retama.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Securing the commitment from the Big Brown camp to run the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Haskell Invitational winner in the inaugural Monmouth Stakes was the first step.

Now it's up to Monmouth Park to turn Big Brown's return to the Jersey Shore into a major late-season event on Sept. 13.

It won't be an easy sell, given the time of year and the short window to promote a turf race where the purse inflates from $200,000 to $500,000, if Big Brown runs.

Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., will begin its first Thoroughbred meet on Friday since the June opening of its new casino, which houses 2,000 slot machines and 66 multi-player electronic blackjack, three-card poker, and roulette tables manned by virtual croupiers.

Santa Anita will reopen its synthetic main track on Saturday after a seven-week renovation, and Hollywood Park will close its synthetic main track on Monday for a five-day renovation, officials at the two tracks said on Wednesday.

Since July 14, Santa Anita maintenance crews have replaced the track's Cushion Track brand synthetic surface with elements of the Pro-Ride surface from Australia. The new surface is expected to aid in drainage, which has been a persistent problem since the first synthetic surface was installed in August 2007.

Terry Houghton and Freddie Mata, one-two in the jockey standings at Pinnacle Race Course near Detroit, dominated Sunday's card, each winning three times on the eight-race program.

Houghton did even better on Tuesday, winning four races.

Houghton leads all riders with 49 wins. Mata is second with 36 wins. Gerald Bennett tops the trainer standings with 19 wins, four ahead of Bob Gorham.

* Pinnacle will have a special post of 1:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, an hour earlier than usual. Gates will open at noon for a Pinnacle hat giveaway to the first 1,500 fans.

Six Illinois-bred stakes Tuesday at Fairmount Park produced a mix of the predictable and the surprising, with a pair of locally based horses pulling off upsets in the route stakes for older horses after Chicago-based shippers won the 2-year-old stakes early on the card.

A special holiday Monday night program will conclude the season of racing at Evangeline Downs and will also mark the end of Jason Boulet's term as racing secretary. Boulet will soon assume the same position at Fair Grounds in preparation for the New Orleans track's mid-November opening.

"This place and I kind of grew up together," Boulet said. "I leave here with a bit of a heavy heart, but it is also a good time. Handle is up, field sizes are up, and I am fortunate to have such a great opportunity present itself at Fair Grounds."