The late Dorothy Scharbauer, who co-owned Alysheba, the 1988 Horse of the Year, is one of four owners and breeders who will be inducted into the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame at Retama Park near San Antonio on Oct. 4. The other inductees are Bill Allen, Bobby D. Cox, and Joe Straus Jr.

Allen led the Black Chip Stables partnership that raced Wild Again, upset winner of the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic in 1984. He has long ties to Texas, and put together the current management team at Retama.

Kip Deville, the winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Mile, is once again a hero in his home state of Oklahoma. For the second straight year he has been named horse of the year by the Oklahoma Thoroughbred Association. The honor was announced during the OTA's annual awards banquet at Remington Park last Saturday.

A couple of promising and late-developing 3-year-olds will square off in Friday night's featured race at Evangeline Downs. The entry-level allowance slated for a mile drew seven Louisiana-breds and carries a $37,000 purse.

State steward Jim Haberlan suffered a heart attack after the races last Saturday and will likely be excused from his duties for the remainder of the Nebraska season, which runs through Sept. 13.

Haberlan was admitted to Columbus Community Hospital following the races that night and was transported by helicopter to a Lincoln facility the following day. He had two stents implanted and was scheduled to be released on Friday. Former steward Quient Schaffer is filling in for Haberlan in the interim.

Thoroughbreds, Quarter Horses, Arabians, Appaloosas, and Paints will take part in stakes during closing weekend of this session. On Saturday, Quarter Horses will compete in the finals of the Grade 2, $62,000 Mile High Derby at 400 yards; Thoroughbreds will meet in the $25,000 Spicy Handicap at 1 1/16 miles; and Arabians will run in the $20,000 Soaring Eagle Distaff at 1 1/16 miles.

Trainer Tim Hamm has a good chance of turning the hat trick in the Ohio-bred 2-year-old stakes division Friday when he sends out Raise the Reward and Astronaut in the $50,000 Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at six furlongs.

Hamm has saddled the winners of the first two Ohio-bred 2-year-old stakes run this year - Raise the Reward in the Hoover and Slides Choice in the Tah Dah. Both stakes were run at River Downs.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The people connected to the horse are scattered across the globe: A bloodstock man in Ireland, stud-farm owners in South Africa, and a sheikh from Dubai. Bred in the U.S., Archipenko was briefly a 2007 English Derby hopeful for the mighty Coolmore operation and trainer Aidan O'Brien. But his form deteriorated badly last year at 3, the colt was sold privately, and over the winter in Dubai, he blossomed into a completely different racehorse.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Seaside Retreat has always had talent, but that came with an attitude that may have kept him from realizing his full potential.

Finally, having exhausted all other avenues, Seaside Retreat's trainer, Mark Casse, called owner Bill Farish Jr. with a difficult proposition.

"I'd had a lot of trouble with the horse at 3," said Casse. "I called Bill and said, 'I know this is going to hurt, but this horse needs to be gelded.' "

Even after that, Seaside Retreat's troubles were not over.

Star Production has stepped up his game with more distance, and last Saturday he indicated he will be a force in the Louisiana-bred ranks the rest of the year with his eight-length romp over multiple stakes winner Ide Like a Double in the $100,000 Louisiana Breeders' Derby at Louisiana Downs. For the effort in the 1 1/16-mile race, Star Production earned a career-best Beyer Figure of 102.

"I'd never seen him run one like that," said James Hodges, who trains Star Production for Foxwood Plantation. "It looks like he's worked into being a stakes horse around two turns."

DEL MAR, Calif. - Win. You're In. Oh, by the way, you've still got to pay.

That's the story arc for owner Richard Templer, whose Black Mamba won the John Mabee Handicap on Sunday, thus giving her an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Oct. 24 at Santa Anita. Black Mamba, who was bred in New Zealand, was not an original nominee to the Breeders' Cup program, so in order for her to run in the Filly and Mare Turf, Templer would have to pony up 15 percent of the race's $2 million purse, some $300,000.

He said he's prepared to do it.