LEXINGTON, Ky. - Apparently there's something about the Darley Alcibiades Stakes and Polytrack and maidens.

On the day that Keeneland first unveiled its Polytrack surface last fall, a filly named Bel Air Beauty posted her first career victory in the Alcibiades. And when the 2007 fall meet began Friday amid unseasonably hot weather, another filly lacking a previous victory won the Grade 1 race.

Due and Play Bingo, both attempting to win the Maryland Million Classic for a second time, and Silmaril, seeking to attain millionaire status, top a group of 154 horses pre-entered Friday for next weekend's Maryland Million.

A record $1.7 million in purses in 12 races will be offered to the offspring of Maryland stallions on Saturday at Laurel Park.

Overall business was down nearly 9 percent at the Turfway Park fall meet that ended Thursday night, while ontrack business was up by about 6 percent at the Florence, Ky., track.

All-sources wagering on live races at the 22-day meet was nearly $53.4 million, for an average of about $2.4 million daily. Turfway's president, Bob Elliston, attributed the decline to "ongoing difficulties in the account-wagering market that excluded key providers who offered our races in 2006."

STICKNEY, Ill. - Cloudy's Knight, in more ways than one, is a big favorite of his owners, Jerry and Shirley Schwartz.

First, with a win in the Grade 2 Sky Classic Stakes on Sept. 23 at Woodbine, Cloudy's Knight further padded his status as the best horse that the Schwartzs - Chicagoans - ever have owned. Second, Cloudy's Knight simply is big.

A chestnut gelding by Lord Avie out of the mare Cloudy Spot, Cloudy's Knight stands 17 hands 3, his head seeming to reach up to the heavens. But packed in the huge frame is a fierce competitive spirit, as well as a serene soul.

ALBANY, Calif. - The new Tapeta surface at Golden Gate Fields got its first test Friday as 10 horses trained over the newly installed surface.

Mowgli, a 4-year-old gelding, recorded the first work on the surface, going a half-mile in 49.20 seconds under Russell Baze. The other nine horses simply galloped.

Mowgli, who is not a particularly good work horse when on his own, according to trainer Gloria Buckley, had worked a half-mile in 50 seconds Sunday at Solano.

Baze said there was a lot of give in the surface, which he considered a positive.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Main Executive lost a heartbreaker when he made his last start here in the Sept. 19 Overskate, as he dueled through a rapid early pace and just failed to fend off a rallying Dancer's Bajan.

On Sunday, Main Executive will look to re-establish his winning ways when he faces seven rivals in the $75,000 Mt. Sassafras, a seven-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-olds and upward here at Woodbine.

The Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Breeders' Cup Turf on April 5 will be the richest of 22 stakes worth a cumulative $1.4 million during the upcoming meet at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. The track opens for 68 nights of racing on Nov. 23. The season runs through April 5, 2008.

The Connally, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds and up, will share the closing night program with two other turf stakes, the $50,000 Jersey Lilly for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles and the $50,000 Sam Houston Turf Sprint Cup at five furlongs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Main Executive lost a heartbreaker when he made his last start here in the Sept. 19 Overskate, as he dueled through a rapid early pace and just failed to fend off a rallying Dancer's Bajan.

On Sunday, Main Executive will look to re-establish his winning ways when he faces seven rivals in the $75,000 Mt. Sassafras, a seven-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-olds and upward here at Woodbine.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Fighting for the lead in the jockey standings at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting is new territory for veteran rider David Flores.

Despite being a fixture in Southern California since the late 1980s, Flores, 39, has won just one riding title at the Oak Tree meeting, in 1999. He has finished in the first five in the standings only once since then, when third behind Laffit Pincay Jr. in 2002.

This fall, Flores is off to an excellent start, trailing Victor Espinoza by one, 9-8, through Thursday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Barb Heads knows what it's like to be running for second money. The past couple of years she has trained a couple of decent older fillies and mares, Galica and Montero. Heads sent them out on more than one occasion to run against Monashee and knew her chances of winning were between slim and none.

She's in a similar situation with Rosada and Remarkable Miss, who will be trying to keep up with the brilliant Dancing Allstar on Sunday in the Sadie Diamond Futurity at Hastings.