EDMONTON, Alberta - The 11th Alberta Fall Classic Day - with $400,000 up for grabs in seven stakes races restricted to Alberta-breds - started out Saturday with hot favorite Bears Artiste ($3.30) going wire to wire under Desmond Bryan to capture the Sturgeon River for 2-year-old fillies.

FRESNO, Calif. - The 11-day Big Fresno Fair meeting, which opens Wednesday and runs through Oct. 14, includes a pair of $50,000 stakes races for Thoroughbreds, the Harvest Futurity at six furlongs for 2-year-olds on Oct. 12 and the one-mile Bull Dog Stakes on Oct. 14. The purse for the Harvest Futurity has been raised $10,000 from last year.

The fair's racing secretary, Zach Soto, said he has 650 stall requests and expects a full barn area for the meeting.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- With the possible exception of Curlin, the most impressive performance turned in Sunday at Belmont Park was by Fabulous Strike, whose 5 3/4-length romp in the Grade 1 Vosburgh re-established his credentials as a leading contender for the Breeders' Cup Sprint on Oct. 27 at Monmouth Park.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Really, trainer Michele Boyce owed jockey Terry Houghton some kind of payback. Houghton wound up this summer at Canterbury Park when Arlington Park's parent company, Churchill Downs Inc., denied him permission to ride because of an ongoing investigation into alleged suspicious betting patterns at several racetracks. One morning, Houghton drove from Canterbury in the suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul area down to Prairie Meadows in Des Moines, Iowa, to ride a horse for Boyce - only to find upon arrival that the horse had been scratched.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's $151,200 Ontario Derby was billed as a Sovereign Award showdown between Prince of Wales winner Alezzandro and Queen's Plate winner Mike Fox.

However, no one cleared the script with Artie Hot, an unheralded gelding who came flying up the inside to leave the favorites struggling in his wake.

Artie Hot's trainer of record, Nick Gonzalez, was not even present as he was taking care of business with his Fort Erie division while his wife and assistant, Martha, did the honors here at Woodbine.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Nashoba's Key's bandwagon was filling rapidly Sunday, a day after she extended her unbeaten streak to seven in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.

Through the morning, trainer Carla Gaines's cell phone rang incessantly with calls from well-wishers, while Nashoba's Key, displaying the bad temperament she is known for, rested in her stall, about 25 feet outside of Gaines's stable office.

"Everybody loves a winner," Gaines said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher won't have Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches to run, but he'll still have a pretty strong hand to play in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff on Oct. 27 at Monmouth Park.

That hand was strengthened Sunday when the Pletcher-trained duo of Unbridled Belle and Indian Vale were heads apart while finishing first and second in the Grade 1 $600,000 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to 11-10 favorite Ginger Punch in third.

Balance, Mo Cuishle, Miss Shop, and Ice Cool Kitty completed the order of finish.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Johnny Velazquez had a ton of horse aboard 2-5 favorite English Channel entering the stretch of Sunday's $600,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational, he just needed some room.

Velazquez finally found some space at the eighth pole and he was able to squeeze English Channel on through en route to a 2 1/4-length victory over Stream of Gold in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch at Belmont Park. It was three lengths back to Interpatation in third.

Kiss the Kid, Mission Approved, Green Girl, and Mustanfar completed the order of finish.

ELMONT, N.Y. - This time in the Belmont Park stretch, Curlin didn't come up short, and now the Preakness winner is back in the hunt for Horse of the Year.

Thirteen weeks after falling a head short to the filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont Stakes, Curlin wore down the sensational 4-year-old colt Lawyer Ron to take Sunday's Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup by a neck. Lawyer Ron, coming off victories in the Whitney and Woodward at Saratoga, finished second by four lengths over Political Force.

ELMONT, N.Y. - While trainer Todd Beattie insists Fabulous Strike can rate, it was the gelding's brilliant speed that helped him punch his ticket to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Forced to go to the front in Sunday’s Grade 1 Vosburgh Stakes at Belmont Park after drawing the rail, Fabulous Strike, under Ramon Dominguez, dueled with the speedy Talent Search through a half-mile in 44.51 seconds before drawing away from that colt in the stretch en route to a 5 3/4-length victory. Fabulous Strike covered the six furlongs in 1:09.22 and paid $11.20.