Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., has improved its purse structure, stakes schedule, and wagering format for its 44-date mixed meet for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses that opens Saturday. The season will run through May 27.

Will Rogers operates 250 electronic gaming machines, and their success has helped the track boost purses from $107,000 a day last meet to $148,000 a day. Will Rogers is also introducing four Thoroughbred stakes this meet, and has added a pick eight to the wagering menu. The new bet will be on races 4-11, which are all for Thoroughbreds.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Friday cards at Aqueduct, Laurel Park, and Charles Town were canceled due to a major winter snow storm.

Aqueduct announced Friday morning that the facility would also be closed for simulcasting. Racing is scheduled to resume Saturday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Medici Code, the winner of the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby last September, will make his synthetic-track stakes debut in the $1omillion Santa Anita Handicap on March 1, trainer Darrell Vienna said on Thursday.

Vienna cited the way that Medici Code has trained on Santa Anita's synthetic track as the main reason for his decision to the shift the 4-year-old from turf to the main track.

"He's trained well on this new variation," Vienna said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There were 12 horses entered on Thursday for the Grade 2, $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park, but fans who come to the track will want to stick around at least another half-hour to see the best 3-year-old racing on the card.

War Pass, the champion 2-year-old male of last year, will make his first start since the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in the race following the Fountain of Youth, a one-mile overnight stakes race called the Silver Series Purse. It will be the 10th race on an 11-race card.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita will replace its synthetic main track following the conclusion of the winter-spring meeting on April 20, the track's president, Ron Charles, said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a daylong panel on synthetic tracks convened by the California Horse Racing Board, Charles said a decision has not been made on what surface will be installed.

The Salvator Mile will play a more prominent role on the Monmouth Park stakes schedule this summer.

As usual, the highlight of the meet will be the $1 million Haskell Invitational for 3-year-olds on Aug. 3. But by combining the Grade 3 Salvator with the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes on July 5, Monmouth adds a second major stakes day to its meet.

"We're going to look to make that into a major weekend," said Monmouth vice president Bob Kulina. "It's always been good, but hopefully we can grow it into a big racing event."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There were few surprises when entries were drawn on Wednesday for Saturday's Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Breeders' Cup Turf. As expected, a field of 10 long-winded turf specialists entered the 1 3/8-mile grass stakes, topped by Shamdinan, runner-up behind Eclipse winner English Channel in the BC Turf.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Turf War, who finished ninth as the favorite in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Monday, overreached and cut his right front heel in the race, according to his trainer, Mark Casse.

"He's fine," he said. "He grabbed himself a little at the start when he broke in."

Idiot Proof's second-place finish to the streaking Tribesman in Saturday's $100,000 Phoenix Gold Cup was solid, to be sure. But was it solid enough for owners Pam and Martin Wygod to send him into the Group 1, $2 million Golden Shaheen on the Dubai World Cup undercard on March 29?

"We just got outrun," said trainer Cliff Sise Jr. "As far as Dubai goes, well, I'll have to talk to the owners."

Idiot Proof's rider, David Flores, agreed. "The other horse was too good today," he said. "I was expecting him to come back to us, but he just kept going."

The career of apprentice jockey Junior Chacaltana is heating up. He cracked the top 10 in the Sam Houston Race Park rider standings last week, after recording a double on Sunday and a triple on Feb. 9. The 22-year-old native of Lima, Peru, launched his riding career last July, with the support of trainer Brent Davidson. Other high-percentage horsemen he is riding for this meet include Danny Pish and Randy Mayfield.