ALBANY, Calif. - Golden Gate Fields installed a synthetic Tapeta surface prior to its 2007 fall-winter meet in the hopes it would lead to a decrease in serious injuries and fatalities. After one meeting on Tapeta, figures from California Horse Racing Board equine director Dr. Rick Arthur and comments from trainers and veterinarians indicate the track accomplished its goal.

The New York Racing Association was to begin mailing out applications over the weekend for reserved seats for the 2008 Saratoga meet, officials announced Friday. NYRA had delayed sending out those applications until the franchise issue was resolved.

On Wednesday, NYRA's franchise to run racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga was extended by state legislators for the next 25 years.

Application forms for Saratoga reserved seats can also be obtained at All applications must be postmarked by March 21 in order to be eligible.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Denis of Cork and Sacred Journey are a pair of sharp 3-year-olds who will be out to establish some credentials on Monday when each makes his stakes debut in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park.

"We're putting a toe in the water, and we'll see if we can put a foot in it," said David Carroll, who trains the undefeated Denis of Cork.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There will be some prominent names in the starting gate for next Sunday's Grade 2 Fountain of Youth - such highly regarded 3-year-olds as graded stakes winners Court Vision and Anak Nakal, and the late-striding Monba. But the horse owning the biggest Beyer Speed Figure in the field could be the least experienced member of the group. He is Kentucky Bear, who earned a 93 for his impressive 6 1/2-length maiden special weight win in his career debut here on Jan. 21.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Crown of Thorns, a leading California-based Triple Crown hopeful, worked six furlongs in 1:17.80 at Santa Anita on Friday over a synthetic track that several trainers felt played slow through the morning.

Crown of Thorns, working in company, recorded a time that equaled the slowest of 18 works at the distance. He is being prepared for the $200,000 Sham Stakes here on March 1.

When Purely Wild captured a second-level allowance race Thursday at Turfway Park, he gave his trainer his biggest thrill in a lifetime on the racetrack.

Bobby Radcliffe, 45, is the trainer of Purely Wild, and if it weren't for the game of horse racing, Radcliffe has no idea where life might have led him. Radcliffe was born and raised in the Clarksdale projects, one of the most poverty-ravaged neighborhoods in Louisville, Ky., and yet he still calls himself "probably the luckiest guy on the backside" while trying to parlay a four-horse stable into a decent living.

NEW ORLEANS - Michael Stidham calls fellow trainer Cody Autrey "Johnny Come Lately." It's true that at 28 Autrey isn't as a seasoned as those who have been training since before he was born.

But the trainer standings don't reflect age, only wins. And in the win category Autrey is doing well enough to be sitting in second place at the Fair Grounds meet, behind only Steve Asmussen.

Autrey's statistics, 38 wins from 140 starters through Feb. 14, peg him as a consistent winner and likely target for profitable betting, but Autrey's training style makes him difficult to bet.

Calder Race Course racing secretary Mike Anifantis has released a $9.4 million stakes schedule for the 2008 Calder and Tropical at Calder meetings, a program that will be highlighted by the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap, which this year will become part of the Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" program along with the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - By a vote of 2-1, a board of stewards on Thursday denied an appeal filed by the owners of La Dolce Vita and J'ray protesting Green Girl's victory in the $100,000 Suwannee River Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 3.

The connections of La Dolce Vita and J'ray, who finished second and third in the Grade 3 Suwannee River, alleged that Green Girl did not carry her weight from paddock to post after the filly tossed jockey Rene Douglas and ran off shortly after stepping onto the racetrack for the post parade.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Stormin' Normandy has raced only six times in 18 months. If things work out the way trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. hopes, Stormin' Normandy could race twice in 48 hours this holiday weekend.

Dutrow said Wednesday he plans to run Stormin' Normandy in Saturday's $75,000 Hollie Hughes Stakes for New York-breds at Aqueduct. If all goes well, Stormin' Normandy could run back in Monday's Grade 2, $300,000 General George Handicap at Laurel Park.