SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Better Talk Now was declared out of Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga due to an injury to his left front ankle, trainer Graham Motion said Friday.

His defection figures to leave English Channel a heavy favorite in the 1 1/2-mile turf race.

Motion said that Better Talk Now suffered a puncture wound to his left front ankle during the running of the United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park, in which he finished third, three lengths behind English Channel.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Medici Code's introduction to California racing went poorly. The English import finished sixth in the Santa Anita Derby last April, a performance that ended any remote chance of a start in the Kentucky Derby.

His introduction to Del Mar went much better, a second-place finish by a head in a division of the Oceanside Stakes on July 18.

The restricted Oceanside was a prep to the $150,000 La Jolla Handicap for 3-year-olds on Saturday, a race that can show why Herrick Racing paid approximately $585,000 for Medici Code in a private deal earlier this year.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - To the list of famous trainers of 2-year-olds at Saratoga, like D. Wayne Lukas, Todd Pletcher, and Nick Zito, you can now add Bill Mott.

Yes, that Bill Mott.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Rather than play it cute, they decided to play it straight. Mixed Up was using the Grade 2, $84,900 A.P. Smithwick Memorial on Thursday at Saratoga as a prep for the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Handicap later this month, and he signaled his readiness for a defense of his 2006 Turf Writers title with a gutsy victory over front-running Preemptive Strike.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - The battle for leading rider is hot at Fort Erie between Robbie King Jr. and Chad Beckon.

King, who leads with 49 wins, is winning at 20 percent, while Beckon has 43 wins and an 18 percent winning rate.

One of the leading percentage riders is Daniel David, who is going along at a 22 percent clip, with 34 winners.

Also noteworthy is Tyler Pizarro, the top rider at Woodbine who comes to the Fort on Mondays and Tuesdays when that track is dark. Going into Saturday, Pizarro had 14 wins from 39 mounts (36 percent).

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Mark Shuman admits to being "more nervous than I'd been in a while" before saddling Talent Search in the $100,000 Teddy Drone Stakes Wednesday at Monmouth Park.

Shuman had trained the 4-year-old Talent Search lightly for his first start since the runner lost a shoe and suffered a badly bruised left hind foot while finishing second in the Maryland Sprint Handicap on the Preakness Stakes undercard.

"He was about 80 percent sharp and fit," Shuman said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - This summer is going so well for the New York Racing Association that even Saturday's $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational is worthy of its Grade 1 billing.

Often overshadowed by the more prestigious and richer Arlington Million run on the same day, Saturday's 33rd renewal of the Sword Dancer features the seventh match-up between multimillionaires English Channel and Better Talk Now. Those two headline a nine-horse field entered for the 1 1/2-mile turf stakes run over Saratoga's inner turf course.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Therecomesatiger was supposed to get a litmus test six weeks ago by facing the likes of Remarkable News and Brilliant in a tough renewal of the Firecracker Handicap at Churchill Downs, but it didn't happen. Therecomesatiger had sore feet that forced him to miss a key workout, so the most recent race on his past performances remains an eye-catching victory in the June 2 Opening Verse Handicap at Churchill.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Seven of the 10 starters representing trainer Wally Dollase here through the years have competed in seven-figure races.

Two have been successful, as Jewel Princess captured the Breeders' Cup Distaff in 1996 and Good Journey won the Woodbine Mile in 2002.

On Saturday Dollase has a more modest goal in the $150,000 Duchess with Sans Reward, who is shipping in from Saratoga for the seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - With Mike Fox heading to the farm for a month and Seductively returning from a summer vacation, trainer Ian Black will be looking to his bench to make some noise in stakes races.

Black will call upon Lyrically and Prophetically, who will be making their stakes debuts in Saturday's seven-furlong, $150,000 Duchess here at Woodbine.

"At this point, this is probably a good distance for them," said Black. "This will be their last opportunity for quite a while to sprint in a 3-year-old filly stakes."