MIAMI - The local turf course got some much-needed rest this past weekend due to some wet weather that moved through the area early Saturday morning. And while the break wiped out a pretty good race in Sunday's Pass the Line Stakes, it also gave the grass a chance to rest and recuperate for the onslaught that lies ahead during the final month of the meet, beginning with Saturday's $100,000 My Charmer and Tropical Park Turf handicaps.

Further refinement of preps leading to the Santa Anita Derby, a better progression of stakes for female sprinters, and overnight stakes slotted for Monday cards highlight the stakes schedule for the upcoming Santa Anita winter meeting, which begins Dec. 26.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The race for leading rider at the two previous fall meets at Churchill Downs ended in a dead heat, but it is hard to imagine a closer or more dramatic jockeys race than the one that closed out the 2007 fall meet.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Nick Gonzalez knew he was taking a shot when he entered My List, a 3-year-old, against older fillies and mares here in last Sunday's $153,500 Bessarabian at seven furlongs.

"She was going to run in a two-other-than last week," said Gonzalez. "But when I breezed the filly last Sunday, she breezed great."

Gonzalez also was encouraged that Financingavailable, who was last year's Canadian champion older mare, had been retiired and was not in the field.

ALBANY, Calif. - A stakes race at Golden Gate Fields on a Wednesday?

Not exactly, but Wednesday's feature is a stakes by any other name. Technically, it's a $40,000 allowance race at one mile on the turf, but it has attracted four multiple stakes winners, two of them Grade 3 winners.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Breeders' Cup Sprint at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27 has been forgotten around trainer David Hofmans's Hollywood Park barn.

Greg's Gold went into the $2 million race as a leading contender, was never a factor on a sloppy track, and finished eighth.

"You have to throw it out," Hofmans said.

The race is a rare blemish on Greg's Gold's 2007 form as the 6-year-old approaches Sunday's $100,000 Vernon Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park.

"He's back on a synthetic track, which he likes," Hofmans said.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Seven trainers have started more horses at the ongoing Hawthorne meet than Wayne Catalano - but as of last weekend, nobody had won more.

Coming off his annual Arlington training title, Catalano is subtly having a remarkable run at Hawthorne, winning races with a weird mishmash of stock. A lot of the horses figured to be worn out after the summer, while Catalano and owner Frank Calabrese have not replaced claimed horses at nearly the rate they do at Arlington.

When Ice Cool Kitty held on for a neck victory in Sunday's $84,325 Montauk Handicap it gave trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. Aqueduct's main-track trainers title, 10-9, over Kiaran McLaughlin. Mike Hushion finished third with 8 wins from just 23 starters.

Meanwhile, Javier Castellano edged Alan Garcia, 19-18, for leading jockey honors for the main-track meet. Castellano, who will winter in south Florida, has now won a fall Aqueduct main-track title to go along with his 2004 spring title and 2002-03 inner-track title.

A pair of Grade 2, $300,000 sprint stakes on President's Day weekend will highlight the 15-week winter meet at Laurel Park.

The Barbara Fritchie Breeders' Cup Handicap for fillies and mares on Feb. 16 and the General George BC Handicap for males two days later, both at seven furlongs, top a package of 17 stakes events approved by the Maryland Racing Commission at its annual meeting last week.

A pair of sprints for 3-year-olds, the Horatius and the Smart Halo, have been dropped from the schedule.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Not all the talented 3-year-olds are going to the breeding shed after all.

Two members of the 3-year-old class of 2007 - Daaher and Now a Victor - put in performances Saturday at Aqueduct that raised their profiles as 4-year-olds to watch in 2008.