Santa Anita on Tuesday received unanimous permission from the California Horse Racing Board to move some of its dates across town to Hollywood Park if needed, but Ron Charles, Santa Anita's president, said he believed that would not be necessary.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The wet-weather failure of Cushion Track at Santa Anita will create handicapping uncertainty when the graded stakes schedule resumes this weekend.

Four graded stakes were scrapped when racing was canceled Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. All four are rescheduled for the coming weekend, and evaluating the current form of the principals is now a lot more difficult.

Churchill Downs Inc.'s blockbuster-stakes-day concept has some chops, at least from the look of Saturday's card at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. While no superstars - not yet, at least - appear on the program, the six $100,000 stakes races on the card drew competitive fields with plenty of quality for their respective class levels.

ALBANY, Calif. - Like the No. 1 assistant basketball coach who moves over one seat on the bench to become the head coach, Steve Sherman now has the title of trainer, not assistant.

He became a trainer on Jan. 1, and now runs his own barn instead of the Northern California stable of his father, Art Sherman.

"My dad talked to me about it," the 44-year-old Steve Sherman said. "He wants to focus on his horses in Los Angeles. He supported me and said, 'Go for it.'

"Nothing's different. All our owners were for it. That makes my job easier. They're all in my corner."

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The connections of Giant Moon haven't booked reservations in Louisville for the first Saturday in May just yet, but they soon may be scouring the Internet for the best deals.

Giant Moon's neck victory over a stubborn Spanky Fischbein in Saturday's Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct not only kept him undefeated (4 for 4), but also gave trainer Richard Schosberg enough confidence to feel that he can skip the $100,000 Whirlaway Stakes here on Feb. 2 if he wants to and point the colt straight to the Grade 3, $250,000 Gotham on March 8.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - D. Wayne Lukas has won four Kentucky Derbies, but aside from Proud Citizen's second-place finish in 2002, he has been relatively quiet at the big dance since sending out Charismatic and Cat Thief to finish first and third in 1999.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita management canceled racing for the third straight day Monday because of ongoing draining problems with its Cushion Track surface, but was hopeful of racing again on Thursday following scheduled dark days Tuesday and Wednesday.

STICKNEY, Ill. - The featured eighth race Wednesday at Hawthorne, an Illinois-bred entry-level allowance, offers a purse of $28,000. That's no sum at which to sneer, but it's also almost twice as much as any other purse on Wednesday's nine-race card, a circumstance that typifies the way the Hawthorne racing season is winding down.

Some Ghost ($5.40) moved back to two turns for the $100,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial Handicap for New Mexico-breds at Sunland Park and rolled to a four-length win. Casey Lambert was aboard for Stan Fulton and trainer Jess Alley.

Owner Steve Sigler and trainer Gary Contessa purchased Dill or No Dill privately last fall partly with Aqueduct's inner track in mind. But the duo thought they'd have nothing to lose trying her in the Grade 1 Frizette first.

After setting a rapid pace in that Oct. 6 race, Dill or Dill folded up and finished seventh, beaten 36 1/4 lengths.

"I fried her brain running her in the Frizette - that was a big mistake," Contessa said. "It took me a long time to get her speed back."