ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Here's a shocker - Todd Pletcher isn't at Arlington Park just for the fun of it. No, Pletcher is stabled here for the first time to do what he does everywhere - win races.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Duly rejuvenated by three weeks of relative calm following the Kentucky Derby, adrenaline junkies looking for their next jolt from Churchill Downs probably are looking ahead to June 16, when the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap anchors a program of six graded stakes races.

"After the Derby, I guess it's never too early to look ahead to the Stephen Foster," said Churchill's racing secretary, Ben Huffman.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Racing on a synthetic surface has prolonged the career of the Japanese-bred Silent Name.

Now, the connections of Silent Name are hoping that the son of Sunday Silence will transfer his turf and synthetic surface form to conventional dirt when he runs in Monday's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

Silent Name, trained by Gary Mandella, arrived in New York from Southern California on Friday for Monday's marquee event, which is expected to draw a superlative nine-horse field, including Lawyer Ron, Silver Wagon, Sun King, and Latent Heat.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - At the age of 9, The Tin Man will be facing some horses half his age when he makes his 2007 debut in Monday's $398,200 Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile at Hollywood Park.

Judging from his 2006 form, The Tin Man might have a chance to upset top contenders Kip Deville, who is seeking his fourth consecutive graded stakes win, and Chinese Dragon, the winner of the San Francisco Mile last month who will be trying to win his first Grade 1.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Connaught Cup, the first turf stakes of the Woodbine meeting, did not come up particularly strong.

And that's just fine with trainer Mark Frostad, who will send out French Beret and Shoal Water in the Grade 3, $150,000 race for 4-year-olds and up.

Both French Beret, a 4-year-old gelding, and Shoal Water, a 7-year-old gelding, are Sam-Son Farm homebreds who will be making their second starts of the season in the 1 1/16-mile Connaught Cup.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Michael Turner thinks Forceful Intention has a very good chance of upsetting Spaghetti Mouse in the John Longden Stakes at Hastings on Sunday.

Forceful Intention ran a huge race to finish second to Canadian champion True Metropolitan in the George Royal Stakes on May 5. It was his first start since he finished second as the odds-on favorite in an allowance race last November.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The Grade 3, $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup will have a Kentucky feel this year, with Churchill Downs shippers Embossed and Crested expected to start as two of the top choices in the 1 1/8-mile race. The horses flew into Dallas from Louisville, Ky., on Friday morning, along with four other runners targeting a handful of the six stakes that will make up Monday's Lone Star Million Day card at Lone Star Park.

Tortuga Flats won three straight stakes races on dirt earlier in her career, but improved her turf record to 2 for 2 with an optional claiming win last weekend at Louisiana Downs and will focus this year on grass racing, trainer Ralph Irwin said.

Tortuga Flats registered her first turf win in the $52,000 Elge Raspberry last July at Louisiana Downs. Her latest victory on the grass came in an open-company optional claimer May 18, when she stalked the pace in the about one-mile turf race, then powered to a 1 3/4-length win.

AUBURN, Wash. - The wait is almost over.

Flamethrowintexan, who won last year's Grade 3 Longacres Mile en route to horse of the meeting honors at Emerald Downs, is scheduled make his first start of the year in Monday's $45,000 FSN Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Showing Up, one of the leading turf horses in North America, will be out indefinitely after developing a tear to a suspensory ligement in his left foreleg, trainer Barclay Tagg said Thursday.

Tagg said Showing Up will be out of training for a minimum of three months. He would not speculate on whether Showing Up would be able to run again this year.

"I'm not going to run him for three months," Tagg said. "I'm going to see if I can get it better. It's pretty minor right now, and if I can get it better I'd like to get it better.