DEL MAR, Calif. - Del Mar posted declines in attendance and ontrack and all-sources handle through Sunday, the fifth day of the 43-day meeting, but had an increase in account wagering handle.

According to chief financial officer Michael Ernst, ontrack attendance was down 4.6 percent compared to the start of the 2007 meeting. Del Mar had a record opening-day crowd of 43,459 last Wednesday, but could not sustain that growth through the weekend. Ernst said that track officials believe fewer customers are driving to Del Mar from Los Angeles and Orange counties.

AUBURN, Wash. - Just a week after sending out the second, third, and fourth finishers in the Angie C. Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, trainer Frank Lucarelli got the top prize in Saturday's six-furlong Premio Esmeralda for juvenile colts and geldings.

The Lucarelli-trained Gallant Son, who had graduated in gate-to-wire fashion in his previous start, sat well off the pace in fifth before assuming command in the upper stretch, and held off the late bid of Zagreus to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:10.40 under Leslie Mawing.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Reade Baker and owner Danny Dion's Bear Stable were the star performers here Sunday as Bear Now and Fatal Bullet captured the two stakes races on the program.

But while Bear Now's expected victory in the $155,500 Ontario Matron confirmed her status as a force to reckon with in the filly/mare division and boosted her career earnings past the $1 million mark, Fatal Bullet stamped himself as a star of the future with his romp in the $151,700 Bold Venture.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Giant Gizmo, who would have been one of the favorites for Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga, will be sidelined for the remainder of the year with a non-displaced condylar fracture of his right foreleg, trainer Bobby Frankel said Tuesday.

Frankel said the injury occurred during a workout Monday at Belmont Park in which Giant Gizmo went five furlongs in 1:03.27. Frankel said Giant Gizmo was scheduled to undergo surgery Tuesday at Belmont during which Dr. Stephen Selway would insert screws to stabilize the bone.

DEL MAR, Calif. - There was a time in Brian Koriner's training career when a big weekend was running stakes horses on consecutive days at Sunland Park and Los Alamitos. The game has changed for Koriner.

This weekend, the Southern California-based trainer has a starter at Saratoga for the first time when Black Seventeen runs in Saturday's $250,000 Alfred Vanderbilt Handicap. If Black Seventeen wins, Koriner and jockey Aaron Gryder will have little time to celebrate. The following day, they will be back at Del Mar to run Barbecue Eddie in the $300,000 Bing Crosby Handicap.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The little maiden claimer that Garrett Gomez won aboard Lady Schnapps in Monday's fifth race at Del Mar is the least consequential race he has won this month.

But it was a welcome bit of success after an opening week of tough luck for the 2007 Eclipse champion jockey. Gomez was winless with his first 19 rides at Del Mar before Lady Schnapps ($4) won by 5 1/4 lengths.

COLUMBUS, Neb. – The last extended stop on the Nebraska racing circuit for the year starts up Thursday as Columbus Agricultural Park opens for a 24-day meet that runs through Labor Day.

The Columbus meet is followed the weekend after Labor Day by a three-day session at Horsemen’s Atokad Downs in South Sioux City, Neb., which closes out the Thoroughbred season for the state.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - By sheer numbers, Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Kiaran McLaughlin, Gary Contessa, and Richard Dutrow Jr. figure to win the most races this summer at Saratoga.

But, every meet there is usually a trainer or two that few people associate with success at Saratoga who ends up doing well. Here's a look at five potential diamonds in the rough:

Bruce Brown

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Even while fighting a battle to retain its franchise, the New York Racing Association enjoyed a record 2007 Saratoga season. Now, with the franchise issue behind it - save for the finalization of some documents - NYRA has a new foe to deal with entering the 140th Saratoga stand that begins Wednesday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The next start for Curlin, the 2007 Horse of the Year, has yet to be decided, but he was kept on edge early Monday morning at Saratoga with an easy half-mile workout that was the highlight of a busy morning of drills for trainer Steve Asmussen and his assistant, Scott Blasi.

Blasi, who oversees Asmussen's local horses, sent 14 horses to the Oklahoma training track for workouts, including such well-known stakes-class runners as Noonmark, Pyro, Student Council, Zanjero, and Z Fortune.

"You all showed up on a good day," Blasi said.