The field for the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby next week at Louisiana Downs was just starting to take shape on Friday morning, with the highest-profile starter expected to be Grasshopper, runner-up to Street Sense in the Grade 1 Travers. Entries for the Super Derby, the richest race of five stakes to be run here Sept. 22, will be taken on Wednesday.

"I'm hoping for a field of 9 or 10," said Doug Bredar, racing secretary at Louisiana Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fence-sitters Sky Conqueror and Arravale, both based here at Woodbine, took the plunge, and a deep field of 14 was announced at Thursday's ceremonial draw for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile here Sunday.

Sky Conqueror, who will be cutting back from 1 1/2 miles to one mile on the turf, also had the option of next Sunday's Grade 2, $300,000 Sky Classic at 1 3/8 miles on turf.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The team of trainer Terry Jordan and Bob Cheema just keeps rolling. Last weekend, they swept both ends of the C.T.H.S. Sales Stakes when Dancing Allstar romped in the fillies division Saturday and Star Prospector held off Desert Alf in the colts and geldings division Sunday. The star of the barn, True Metropolitan, won the $100,000 Speed to Spare at Northlands on Saturday.

ELMONT, N.Y. - About 2 1/2 hours before he saddles Rags to Riches in Saturday's Grade 1 Gazelle, trainer Todd Pletcher will tighten the girth around another horse that many have been waiting a long time to see.

Saturday's fourth race, a maiden event at six furlongs, marks the debut of The Green Monkey, who sold for a world record $16 million at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton 2-year-old-in-training sales at Calder. Minor physical issues prevented The Green Monkey from making it to the races at 2. He was stopped on twice for what his connections called a gluteal muscle tear.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Remarkable News came up short last year in his first attempt at the Woodbine Mile, battling from flagfall to midstretch before yielding late to finish fifth.

"It was too fast a pace, and he was eyeballing them up there," said Angel Penna Jr., who trains Remarkable News for Holly Rincon.

"It was a tough race for him; he doesn't need to do that. Obviously, it got to him a little bit. He hung in there, but he tired in the last sixteenth of a mile. I was very disappointed."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Lava Man was the first horse this fall to train over Santa Anita's new Cushion Track racing surface, but his autumn campaign will begin on grass against the best turf miler in California.

Trainer Doug O'Neill confirmed this week that Lava Man would run Oct. 7 in the Grade 2 Oak Tree Mile, a $250,000 turf race in which he will face brilliant Grade 2 Del Mar Mile winner Crossing the Line, the New Zealand-bred who is unbeaten in three U.S. starts. Lava Man's trainer, Doug O'Neill, said surface is the reason for the switch to grass.

Country Chicks Man makes his second Los Alamitos start in the Grade 1, $100,000 Go Man Go on Saturday night.

Country Chicks Man made his other start locally in the Grade 1, $600,000 Champion of Champions last Dec. 9 and ran a close third behind 2006 world champion Wave Carver and 2004 world champion Be a Bono, each of whom has made the overwhelming majority of their starts at Los Alamitos.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Rags to Riches, the Belmont Stakes winner, drew the outside post in a field of five for her much anticipated return to the races in Saturday's Grade 1, $250,000 Gazelle Stakes at Belmont Park.

The Gazelle, run at 1 1/8 miles, will be Rags to Riches' first start since she became the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont. Rags to Riches will face Alabama runner-up Lear's Princess, who drew the rail, and Tough Tiz's Sis, the Hollywood Oaks winner who drew post 3. Also entered were Dorm Fever, in post 2 and Le Chateau, who will break from post 4.

ELMONT, N.Y. - As he strolls the sales grounds at Keeneland searching for his future stars, owner Michael Tabor is constantly reminded of the yearling he purchased there two years ago that is his current heroine.

It was Sept. 12, 2005, when Tabor and partner Derrick Smith plunked down $1.9 million for the A.P. Indy-Better Than Honour filly known today as Rags to Riches. Two months ago, Rags to Riches vaulted to rock-star status when she won a stirring stretch duel with Preakness winner Curlin to become the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont Stakes.

Stunt Man, the longest-price in a scratched-reduced field of four, overcame a slow start and ran past Tiz Wonderful in upper stretch to win Wednesday's $75,250 More Than Ready Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park.

Tiz Wonderful finished second, five lengths ahead of Flashstorm. E Z Warrior, the 4-5 favorite, finished last.

Tiz Wonderful, a multiple graded stakes winner at 2, was vanned off with an injury to his right hind ankle, according to the track's chief examining veterinarian. Tiz Wonderful was to have X-rays taken to determine the extent of the injury.