ALTOONA, Iowa – Prairie Meadows will offer purses in excess of $700,000 on Saturday night when Iowa Classic Night is held for the 14th time. Of the 11 Iowa-bred stakes, seven are for Thoroughbreds and four are for Quarter Horses races. There are eight horses entered who captured a Classic race last year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Storm Caller seems to have discovered a new home on the grass and could make some serious noise when he faces seven rivals in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Play the King at seven furlongs on turf here at Woodbine.

"I think he can get his type of race on the turf," said Reade Baker, who trains the Kentucky-bred 4-year-old for Jim and Susan Hill. "When you run on Poly, you get a slow pace and they don't come back to you. It seems like on the turf you get a good pace, and they always come back."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Hystericalady looked bright and eager, peering out of her stall Wednesday morning at Monmouth Park following a transcontinental flight Tuesday from trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's barn at Bay Meadows.

Hystericalady will likely be favored here Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Molly Pitcher Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

This will be her fourth straight appearance in a stakes with at least a Grade 2 rating.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - It took agent Mike Sellitto a little longer to sell Kent Desormeaux than it did to buy him.

But 15 months after taking over as his agent, Sellitto has Desormeaux in all the right places, most notably the winner's circle this summer at Saratoga. Through Wednesday, Desormeaux was atop the Saratoga rider standings with 31 wins, two more than Cornelio Velasquez.

If you weren't paying close attention you might have missed the uninvited participant in last Friday's fourth race at Prairie Meadows. As the field of nine began making its way into the clubhouse turn, a fox who has inhabited the infield all season long darted in front of the oncoming horses. The track's announcer, Jim McAulay, was quick to point out that "the race has been interrupted by a little critter running across the track."

All I Can Get burst to a 12-length win in the $50,000 Dowling Stakes for Michigan-bred 3-year-olds at Great Lakes Downs on Tuesday. The Dowling was the fourth stakes win for All I Can Get, a Slew City Slew gelding, and fifth win in six tries at this western Michigan oval. Gerald Bennett trains All I Can Get, a Michael McQuade homebred.

A solid group of eight fillies and mares take advantage of a rare nonwinners-of-four condition in Friday's allowance feature. The ninth race on the program, it will be contested at 6 1/2 furlongs and carries a $27,000 purse.

Race Me Round Town appears to be the controlling speed in Friday's headliner. A 5-year-old Leestown mare, she has shown the way through some lively fractions in her most recent starts, which came at Louisiana Downs. Trainer William Hinton has given the call to Sidney Lejeune Jr.

The durable veteran High Dice, who was bred, owned and trained by Herb Riecken, died of a bladder blockage recently at age 12, and his sire, Lytrump, has been euthanized because of his infirmities at age 22. The Omaha World Herald reported the deaths this week.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Saturday's Arlington Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap is an ungraded race with a $150,000 purse, but it will have as an almost certain favorite a horse who won a Grade 1 sprint in his most recent start.

That would be In Summation, in from Saratoga for trainer Christophe Clement. And why is In Summation at Arlington, you ask? Polytrack, that's why.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Altesse is not quite ready for Friday's Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap, but trainer Shug McGaughey is hoping his consistent and gradually improving 4-year-old filly might earn herself a chance to compete against graded stakes company with a strong performance earlier on Friday's card in the $80,000 Marriott Courtyard overnight stakes. The 1 1/8-mile race drew a field of five fillies and mares.