INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Hollywood Park on Saturday is the ideal race for Chief Running Bear's stakes debut.

The 4-year-old colt is on a two-race winning streak, both of which were long races on turf, and is well suited to the Turf Cup distance of 1 1/2 miles. What is unclear to trainer Graham Motion and owner Earle Mack is whether Chief Running Bear is good enough to compete with the American graded stakes winners Sunriver and Spring House and the European stakes winner Champs Elysees and Sudan in the Grade 1 Turf Cup.

STICKNEY, Ill. - The race for leading rider at the Hawthorne meet took a sharp turn in a different direction last Friday. Up to that point, Randy Meier and Tim Thornton had been running neck and neck on the lead, with Thornton holding a narrow edge, but Meier went down in a bad two-horse spill in Friday's third race, broke his arm, and is out of action until sometime next year. His run towards a riding title at age 53 is over.

Approximately 180 unionized bartenders and servers at Woodbine, Mohawk Raceway, and the Greenwood Champions teletheater on Wednesday continued their strike that began at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Jane Holmes, the vice president of corporate affairs for Woodbine, said Wednesday afternoon, "We presented them with another offer early this morning, and we're waiting to hear back from them."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For a guy who has had something of a cold start to a comeback following an 11-month layoff, jockey Patrick Valenzuela is in high demand across the nation this week.

Friday, he travels to Delta Downs in Louisiana to ride Overextended in the $1 million Delta Jackpot Stakes and Champagne Eyes in the $300,000 Delta Princess Stakes.

Saturday, he is back at Hollywood Park to ride four races, including Sudan in the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup.

Looking at pure speed - pure speed figures, that is - Costa Rising ranks among the nation's best horses in 2007. A 115 Beyer Speed Figure in the Evangeline Mile on Aug. 11 and a 118 Beyer in an allowance race a few weeks later are among the top figures earned by any horse anywhere in the country this year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A Woodbine watcher could not be blamed for thinking this has been a rather quiet season for trainer Bob Tiller.

A look at the numbers, however, suggests otherwise.

Heading into the last five days of the meeting, Tiller had sent out 52 winners, ensuring a finish of no worse than third in races won and within hailing distance of Sid Attard's second-place total of 56. Tiller's total purse earnings of $2.37 million ranked fourth best.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It was a year ago this week that Barcola made people perk up and take notice of him when he won a first-level allowance race by 16 1/2 lengths over Aqueduct's inner track.

NEW ORLEANS - The big horse, Curlin, has added more interest than usual to training mornings at Fair Grounds.

Trainer Steve Asmussen has been leading Curlin in the morning. Jogging on the outer part of the track, against the direction of the workouts, Curlin has been out on the track for three consecutive mornings, with Asmussen leading him to an exercise pony.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Analisa Delmas, who is in just her second season as a trainer here at Woodbine, has yet to become accustomed to the spotlight.

But that is about to change as Delmas, who is winding up an impressive campaign, plans to be represented in both the Sir Barton and Valedictory on this closing weekend of the Woodbine meeting.

Cobotown Ron, who finished sixth when making his stakes debut in the Grade 3, 1o1/16-mile Autumn, should be well supported in Saturday's $125,000 Sir Barton, a 1 1/16-mile race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Last winter, the hopes for Ravel included the Santa Anita Derby and then the Kentucky Derby. An injury prevented him from running in either of those races, but he is back, and hopes remain sky high.

Ravel returned from an eight-month layoff with an impressive win in an allowance race at Keeneland on Oct. 12. On Saturday, he will tune up for a planned assault on the Santa Anita winter meeting when he starts in the Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park.