EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Only four Massachusetts-bred 2-year-old fillies are ready for a challenge in the $45,000 Amelia Peabody Stakes on Saturday at Suffolk Downs despite a week's delay for the six-furlong race.

Originally planned as the stakes feature on last Saturday's card alongside the Breeders' Cup simulcast, the Peabody is instead the richest maiden race in the history of Suffolk Downs as the four statebreds all are looking for their first win.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While Indian Blessing was certainly impressive winning last Saturday's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, trainer Patrick Reynolds couldn't have been any happier with Backseat Rhythm's third-place finish in that race.

Backseat Rhythm stumbled badly at the start and was last through the early stages of the Juvenile Fillies. While Indian Blessing cruised on the lead, Backseat Rhythm rallied to get into second position in upper stretch, before settling for third, four lengths behind the winner and a half-length behind Proud Spell.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shot Gun Ela had her finest hour in last year's Ontario Fashion, when she led throughout the six furlongs to record her first stakes victory.

On Saturday, Shot Gun Ela will be looking for a reprise when she faces nine rivals in the $125,000 Ontario Fashion for fillies and mares.

"She's doing excellent," said Ross Armata, who trains Shot Gun Ela. "She's doing everything right."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Maybe she had a headache. Maybe she was not in the mood.

Whatever the reason, She's an Eleven showed no interest in being bred to the stallion Empire Maker earlier this year at Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky.

The situation caught owner Lee and Susan Searing and trainer John Sadler by surprise and led to their decision to put the 4-year-old filly back in training. Saturday, she makes the second start of her comeback in the $150,000 California Cup Matron at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Little has changed for Jay Robbins since Tiznow won his second Breeders' Cup Classic at Belmont Park in 2001. Robbins still keeps a small stable at Santa Anita, not far from the quarter pole in Barn 27, which he has occupied for years.

Fort Erie ended its live season on Tuesday with an increase in the average handle for the 84-day race meet.

On live racing, the average handle per day from all sources totaled $882,550, up 1.6opercent from last year, when the meet covered 101 days and the daily average was $868,970.

Purse distribution was down 18.2 percent from the previous year, going from $11,162,000 to $9,132,300.

Jockey Robert King Jr. won the riding title for the second straight year with 106 wins. Chad Beckon was next with 73.

Quarantine restrictions were lifted Tuesday for half of the Churchill Downs barn in which a horse was diagnosed with the equine herpesvirus last week.

Sixteen horses based in Barn 47 with trainer Al Stall Jr. were released from quarantine after it was determined that none had been infected with the virus. Another 19 horses trained by David Carroll on the other side of the same barn, including a stable pony, remain under quarantine. A firewall separates the opposing sides of the barn.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Tin Man, the 9-year-old multimillionaire, sustained a fractured knee in an accident after a surgical procedure on Oct. 25, and is in guarded condition at trainer Richard Mandella's Santa Anita stable, Mandella said on Wednesday.

The Tin Man was recovering from exploratory surgery on an ankle when he sustained the injury, according to Mandella and veterinarian Jeff Blea.

"Coming out of anesthesia, he had a difficult time and broke his knee," Mandella said. "He's got a serious fracture in his knee. We're not letting him move around."

ARCADIA, Calif. - In the spring, Nevada Worrier looked more like a candidate for maiden claimers than Saturday's $125,000 California Cup Juvenile at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.

Nevada Worrier was winless in four two-furlong races at Bay Meadows and Santa Anita in the spring, races that almost never produce important horses. Then, owner-breeder Joe Duffel offered him at the Barretts May sale of 2-year-olds in training, hoping to sell the gelding for $40,000. Instead, he bought him back for $22,000 when bidding stalled.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The election results may never be known, but the four owners of Bold Chieftain made a surprise decision for their colt in Saturday's California Cup program at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting.

The quartet - owners Dwaine Hall, Ernest Langbein, Kenneth Robinson, plus trainer and part-owner Bill Morey Jr. - have decided to try the three-time stakes winner in Saturday's $250,000 California Cup Classic and not the $175,000 Mile on turf on the same day.