ERIE, Pa. - Presque Isle Downs, which opens its inaugural season Saturday, is a testament to the power of slot machines.

Although the track is located in rural northwestern Pennsylvania, near the shores of Lake Erie, its horsemen's purse account already contains $13 million, thanks mostly to the casino's 2,000 slot machines which opened for business Feb. 28. Under Pennsylvania law, that entire amount must be distributed during the 25-day meet, meaning that purses will average approximately $500,000 a day.

With alternative gaming about to come to fruition at Indiana's two racetracks, perhaps as soon as next summer, the horse racing landscape in the state will soon be radically altered. For the time being, however, the status quo will remain in effect as Hoosier Park, in Anderson, begins a 61-day Thoroughbred meet on Saturday.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Former leading jockey Patrick Valenzuela, who has not ridden since last November, said earlier this week that he is still hoping to make a comeback this fall from a knee injury. Valenzuela has not set a timetable for a return.

Earlier this summer, Valenzuela, 44, said he hoped to ride at Del Mar, but he has not been present at this meeting. He scoffed at a question about whether his 29-year riding career was over.

"I see myself coming back," he said in a telephone interview. "I'm not completely healed, but better."

The Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby, which has produced three of the last four winners of the Preakness Stakes, will anchor a 30-race, $4.6 million stakes schedule this winter at Oaklawn Park. The track's 54-date meet will open on Jan. 18 and run through April 12.

Purses for the meet are expected to average a record $300,000 a day.

PHOENIX - Buoyed by traditional marquee programs, Turf Paradise unveiled a stakes slate of 46 events worth $2.2 million for the 2007-2008 season. The Phoenix track's 156-day stand runs from Oct. 5 through May 4, 2008.

The first special day comes Jan. 5 with a stakes tripleheader: the $75,000 Cotton Fitzsimmons at a mile on the turf; the $50,000 Swift at 5 1/2 furlongs; and the $50,000 Glendale Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for fillies and mares.

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Jockey Chad Schvaneveldt suffered a bruised left thigh and left wrist Wednesday at Bay Meadows when favored Cards Speak suffered a fatal breakdown near the three-eighths pole of the sixth race.

Schvaneveldt took off his final two mounts Wednesday and is listed as day-to-day.

Cards Speak broke sharply and opened a four-length lead in the opening quarter before suffering his injury in the $12,500 claimer at six furlongs.

DEL MAR, Calif. - A string of longshots and consecutive races with beaten odds-on favorites on Wednesday has led to a pick six carryover of $147,092 for Thursday’s eight-race program at Del Mar.

Thursday’s pick six covers the third through eighth races, and there are early scratches in four of those races. Here is a glance at the fields and early changes for those races.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Nashoba's Key, the leading older female in California, ended a late-summer vacation with a half-mile workout in 48.20 seconds at Del Mar on Wednesday, which puts her on course for a fall campaign, trainer Carla Gaines said.

Gaines and owner Warren Williamson are planning a two-race campaign in September and October for Nashoba's Key - the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes over 11/4 miles on turf at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Sept. 29 and the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf over 1 3/8 miles on turf at Monmouth Park on Oct. 27.

A strong European contingent of six horses will invade Belmont Park next Saturday, three for the 1 3/8-mile Man o' War Stakes and three for the 1 1/8-mile Garden City Stakes.

The most intriguing new name for the Man o' War is Stage Gift, a 4-year-old son of Cadeaux Genereux owned by Godolphin. A former handicap horse, he won the 1 1/8-mile Group 3 Darley Stakes at Newmarket last fall in his last start at 3 before being purchased for Sheikh Mohammed's wife, Princess Haya of Jordan, for whom he ran twice in Dubai this winter.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It was in 1967 that the Jimi Hendrix album "Are You Experienced" was released in the United Kingdom. So, okay, the album and song title probably didn't concern racehorses - but the question can be applied to Saturday's Arlington-Washington Futurity.

A field of eight was entered Wednesday in the Gradeo3, $200,000 Futurity; half the field is experienced, the other half not.

Experienced, that is, in the brave new world of synthetic-track racing.