ERIE, Pa. - Friday is Pennsylvania-bred night at Presque Isle Downs, with five $90,000 stakes for statebreds carded. The five stakes are named for prominent horses bred in the the Keystone State - Lil E. Tee, Presidentialaffair, Cozy Lace, Willy Wank, and First Approach. The Malvern Rose, for fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs, would have been the sixth stakes of the evening but it failed to attract enough entries.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington invested close to $11 million on a Polytrack racing surface between its 2006 and 2007 race meets. It looks like money well spent.

While the 94-day 2007 meet which ended Sunday posted only modest increases over 2005, a more typical Arlington year, it represented a major rebound from a troubled 2006.

Total handle on Arlington's 2007 live product was up 12.8 percent from 2006. Last year, a total of $370,737,863 was bet on Arlington races; this year, the total was $418,103,383, a gross increase of $47,365,520.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – Super Derby favorite Grasshopper arrived here safely from Kentucky on Wednesday morning and shortly thereafter drew post 9 in a field of 10 for Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 race at Louisiana Downs.

"That's fine," said Neil Howard, who trains Grasshopper. "I really don't see any downside to it."

ELMONT, N.Y. - It can be argued that the two most impressive performances of the Saratoga meet were turned in by Lawyer Ron in the Whitney and Midnight Lute in the Forego. Awesome Twist had the misfortune of being in both races.

Predictably, Awesome Twist was well beaten in both, finishing last of 11 in the Whitney and fifth, beaten 14 1/4 lengths, in the Forego.

The $200,000 Kentucky Cup Turf will be renewed Saturday at Kentucky Downs, and General Jumbo looks like the probable favorite in a small field - one that appears unlikely to have any impact on the prospective field for the Breeders' Cup Turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Yousaidido is unlikely to attract much support Saturday when she makes her stakes debut in the the $125,000 La Lorgnette, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. But trainer Stanley Baresich, who also is a part-owner, is a believer.

"She's been training exceptionally well," said Baresich. "I think she definitely deserves to be in this race.

"I strongly believe she'll be a contender."

STICKNEY, Ill. - Milestones can make a person survey the past, and Randy Meier did that upon winning the 4,000th race of his career last Sunday at Arlington Park. But by Wednesday morning, Meier had moved on to Hawthorne from Arlington, and he was looking into the future more than over his shoulder.

That's especially true because there's a new generation of a jockey named Meier: Brandon Meier, Randy's 19-year-old son, has been working as an exercise rider for about three months, and the plan is to launch his career at the start of the next Arlington meet.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - An impressive array of shippers will join some of the region's best grass horses in the four $200,000 turf races that will support Saturday's Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

The post draw for Saturday's $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs didn't hurt Fairbanks, who trainer Todd Pletcher hopes can join stablemates Lawyer Ron and Any Given Saturday in the Breeders' Cup Classic next month.

Eight runners entered the 1 1/8-mile Massachusetts Handicap for its first running since 2004, with the speedy Fairbanks in the middle from post 4 and Grade 1 winners Evening Attire and Brass Hat drawn in the outside two posts.

Hot Chili stamped himself as the leading juvenile male runner in Michigan when he rallied to get up by a head over stablemate Berry's Pride in Tuesday's $50,000 Patrick Wood Stakes at Great Lakes Downs.

He has now won 3 of 4 starts, including last month's Little Ones Stakes. Trained by Laura Jackson, Hot Chili is owned by Sharon Valley Thoroughbred Farm. Jareth Loveberry is his regular rider.