Rumbling Cloud ($19.80) held off Kentucky shipper Carson's Legacy, the 1-2 favorite, to land his first stakes in the $151,300 Woodstock.

Rumbling Cloud set slow fractions under Emma Wilson, as Carson's Legacy assumed a stalking position in the six-furlong event.

Carson's Legacy drew even with Rumbling Cloud at the eighth pole, but Rumbling Cloud edged away in deep stretch to win by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 1:11.46.

"I handicapped the race, and it looked like we might be the lone speed," said Wilson. "He showed tremendous tenacity down the lane."

Peach Flambe won the final stakes of the 2008 Gulfstream Park meeting, registering a popular 2 1/4-length victory over Cat Can Do in Saturday's $75,000 Cicada Stakes for fillies and mares.

Peach Flambe, a 5-year-old daughter of Flying Chevron, stalked the early pace of Silversider, moved to command on the far turn, resisted a mild bid from Prop Me Up nearing the quarter pole, and after drawing well clear withstood a belated rally from Cat Can Do. Lady Byar finished another 2 1/2 lengths farther back in third.

The Louisiana State Racing Commission on Friday approved the 2008-2009 race meet requested by Fair Grounds. Fair Grounds will open this year on Nov. 14, racing just three days a week before Thanksgiving, the track's longtime opening day.

Wagering and attendance at Laurel Park's winter meet this year plummeted compared with last year, with average all-sources handle down 20 percent and total attendance declining 31.4 percent.

Handle figures for Maryland's racetracks have been static or in decline for more than a decade.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Friday's Grade 3, $125,000 Doubledogdare at Keeneland unfolded like many races over the Polytrack surface - that is, without much pace. Only this time, in contrast to the synthetic track's reputation, the early leader lasted.

Carriage Trail, under leading rider Kent Desormeaux, was able to get away with a soft opening quarter-mile in 25.27 seconds and a half-mile in 49.04, and had plenty in reserve to turn back several rivals before pulling away to a 1 1/4-length victory over Say You Will in the 1 1/16-mile race before a crowd of 20,393.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hollywood Park will begin its spring-summer meeting on Wednesday with a purse increase of 4 to 5 percent for maiden special weight and allowance races.

The purse for maiden special weight races have been increased $2,000, to $48,000 for sprinters and $50,000 for races around two turns. Allowance races have been increased $2,000 or $3,000, depending on eligibility and distance. For example, allowance races for nonwinners of one "other than" have been increased $2,000, while allowance races for nonwinners of three have been increased $3,000.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Fort Prado, followers of the Chicago racing circuit know, but there will be more than just the one good turf horse under trainer Chris Block's Arlington Park shed row this spring and summer.

For the first few months of the year, 3-year-olds and older horses are largely kept separate in allowance events, competing in races restricted to their own age groups. Then the spring arrives, and races for 3-year-olds and up start being scheduled, and it becomes time for the youngsters to take on older opponents.

That time is Sunday for five 3-year-old fillies who will take on two 4-year-olds in the featured eighth race at Lone Star Park, a $25,000 first-level allowance at a mile on the main track.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It has been 13 years since trainer Sam DiPasquale won a stakes race, with the talented Holly Regent taking the Ontario Matron, Belle Mahone, and Algoma here at Woodbine in 1995.

While that drought seems less dramatic considering that DiPasquale has had just 15 stakes starters in the intervening years, it still would make success all the sweeter if the trainer could click with Marina Ballerina in Sunday's $150,000 Whimsical.

DiPasquale will be saddling Marina Ballerina for the first time in the six-furlong Whimsical. She hasn't run since Feb. 2.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita ends its four-month winter-spring meeting on Sunday, with the future of the track's synthetic racing surface unclear and trainers and owners divided on whether to install a dirt track or stay with a synthetic surface.

When the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting begins on Sept. 24, it is unclear what surface will be in place on a track that will host the Breeders' Cup races on Oct. 24 and 25.