Peppers Pride will face eight rivals at SunRay Park on Saturday, when she attempts to tie North America's modern mark for consecutive wins, 16, in the $75,000 Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Handicap. Entries for the race were taken Wednesday morning at the Farmington, N.M., track. Peppers Pride drew post 7 for the 6 1/2-furlong stakes that will be run around two turns on the six-furlong oval at SunRay.

"I'd like to have been closer to the inside on that particular racetrack," said Joel Marr, who trains Peppers Pride and has given the mount to Carlos Madeira.

Physician Dawn Brokaw signed on to be Turf Paradise's doctor in residence five months ago, the goal being to deliver the best possible free health care service to the track's horsemen and grooms.

Brokaw feels the project has been a success, and in fact the clinic has surpassed her expectations.

"We've taken care of hundreds of backstretch people since our first patient Nov. 17," she said. "The program is more successful than I had hoped."

The program is jointly sponsored by the Arizona Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and the racetrack.

Jockey Alejandro Medellin ventured from old Mexico to New Mexico for a long weekend and won with 10 of his 20 SunRay Park mounts, including five victories on Sunday. Medillin left for Las Americas Racetrack in his homeland, where he will ride this weekend. It is uncertain if he will return to SunRay.

The meet, which opened last Friday, offers 10 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races a day. The meet got under way 13 minutes late when Strawfly Kid dumped his rider, Brian Theriot, and ran loose for several minutes.

Retama Park near San Antonio will open a 21-date Quarter Horse meet on Friday night with six trial races for the Grade 3, $25,000-added Ford Texas Juvenile Challenge. The finale is scheduled for May 10. Retama's meet will run through June 22.

Retama will race on Friday and Saturday nights until June, when it adds Sunday night programs. The 14-race stakes schedule is highlighted by the Grade 1, $75,000-added Retama Park Futurity. The 350-yard race for 2-year-olds will be run on June 22. Trials for the race are June 8.

River Downs has been able to fill its races every day despite a variety of obstacles.

River Downs is running nine days by itself this April, when in the past the track was part of the 7&7 program with Thistledown, meaning River is running more races than in the past.

Indiana Downs, which opens Friday, is only 1 1/2 hours away, giving horsemen another option.

Crimson King Kat, who had established himself as the top Iowa-bred 3-year-old of last year before knee surgery ended a promising campaign, indicated that he's going to be a force this summer in the older Iowa-bred ranks when he finished second to the top local sprinter Wild L on opening weekend.

Crimson King Kat, who last year won the Gray's Lake and placed in two other stakes, has never been worse than second in 10 lifetime starts. Trainer Kelly Von Hemel will point him toward the $65,000 John Wayne Stakes on May 17.

As of Wednesday, three shippers were expected for Fonner Park's signature event, Saturday's $75,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

Wayzata Bay is the expected morning-line favorite from trainer Judi Hicklin's barn in what is shaping up to be a field of eight to 10. He will van over from Hicklin's base at Prairie Meadows on the morning of the race. Wayzata Bay comes into the race off a March 8 win in the $65,000 Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay.

Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Colo., will conduct 20 stakes for Thoroughbreds during its mixed-breed meet that opens May 24. The track is scheduled to run 36 dates, through Aug. 10.

There are also nine stakes on tap for Quarter Horses, the richest of which is the Grade 2, $125,000 Mile High Futurity. It will share a card with the $30,000-added Gold Rush Futurity for Thoroughbreds on the closing-day program.

Jockey Francisco Torres has been issued a license by the Louisiana Racing Commission and has resumed his riding career at Evangeline Downs following a nine-month suspension.

Torres, 38, is a winner of almost 2,000 races and $35 million in purses. The native of Mexico had not ridden since July 2007 after the Illinois Racing Board suspended his license for violation of their substance abuse policy. He was ranked second in the rider standings at Arlington Park at the time of his suspension.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Going Ballistic registered the biggest victory of his career when going from turf to dirt. Saturday, he will be making the same kind of surface switch when he starts as one of the top choices in the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park.

The one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up is the richest of four stakes on a card designed to produce starters for the Lone Star Million Day program of stakes here May 26. There will be three $50,000 stakes supporting the Texas Mile on Saturday.