BOSSIER CITY, La. - Some habits can be tough to break, but following back-to-back Saturdays that resulted in four stakes wins in the region, trainer Pat Mouton would just as soon keep things as they are.

"It's a good habit to have," deadpanned Mouton after saddling Cort's P. B. and Leesa Lee in last Saturday night's Louisiana Legends Night at Evangeline Downs. Those successes came after winning with Cajun Conquest in the Seeking the Gold Stakes and Venomous in the Temperence Hill here at Louisiana Downs on June 23.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - You Will Love Me already has been a pleasant surprise this year. Now, after winning the seven-furlong Lady Angela on May 26 and doubling up in a six-furlong third-level allowance on June 8, You Will Love Me is scheduled to try turf for the first time in Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong Ontario Damsel.

You Will Love Me's recent successes came in Ontario-sired company, and the $150,000 Ontario Damsel, for Ontario-foaled 3-year-old fillies, looms a tougher assignment.

Two turf veterans ended long losing streaks Tuesday night at Mountaineer Race Track.

Water Gap ($12.60), a 7-year-old mare who had lost 18 straight grass races since her last victory in September 2004, won the Firecracker for fillies and mares while 7-year-old gelding Cherokee Prince ($16) snapped his five-race skid by holding off Load a Chronic by a head to defend his title in the Independence Day. Both stakes were contested at one mile on the turf and were worth $75,000.

MIAMI - For owner Harry Aleo and trainer Greg Gilchrist, Lost in the Fog was the type of horse who comes along once in a lifetime. Or so they thought.

But just two years after Lost in the Fog's Eclipse Award season and less than a year after the colt's untimely death from cancer, Aleo and Gilchrist find themselves atop the nation's sprint division again. This time, the horse is Smokey Stover, a 4-year-old son of Put It Back who goes for his fifth consecutive victory in Saturday's $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap at Calder.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Steve Asmussen has had good success in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga. He won the race in 2004 with Bwana Charlie and again in 2005 with Santana Strings. Asmussen's latest candidate for the 6o1/2-furlong race for 3-year-olds might have emerged Saturday at Lone Star Park.

Asmussen said Forty Grams, who won the $100,000 Alysheba Breeders' Cup at a mile, could start next in the Amsterdam. The race will be run at Saratoga on July 30.

The California Horse Racing Board voted 5-0 in a special telephone conference call Tuesday to waive its mandate that racetracks must have a synthetic surface to operate in 2008, agreeing to a one-year exemption for Bay Meadows.

According to Jack Liebau, president of Bay Meadows Racing Association, the next step will be to reach an agreement on dates for Bay Meadows to race in 2008. Questioned after the conference call, Liebau said that the dates would play a pivotal role in whether the track would race next year, and that dates earlier in the year would be beneficial.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - On a day when betting pools reached record levels, the Hollywood Park pick six returned $576,040 to each of 13 ticket-holders on Monday.

Pick six interest was at an all-time high nationwide following a record four-day carryover of $3,274,505 from Thursday through Sunday. Bettors added a record $7,596,347 to the pool on Monday, creating an overall pool of $10,870,852, a North American record.

Jockey John Jacinto is a native of Peru, but said he feels right at home at Louisiana Downs. He is back riding at the Bossier City, La., track this meet after spending last season in Kentucky. Jacinto leads the standings here, and will soon reach a milestone of 1,000 wins in North America.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Beaten in separate races by Japan's leading male and female turf milers in recent months, Kiss to Heaven will be tried in an equally difficult spot when she makes her United States debut in Friday's $750,000 CashCall Mile at Hollywood Park.

But Japanese trainer Hirofumi Toda insists he is not wasting his time in making his first trip to the U.S. to start Kiss to Heaven. A winner of 3 of 14 starts and $1,626,209, Kiss to Heaven won the one-mile Japanese 1000 Guineas in 2006, the final race of a three-race winning streak.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Big races often don't live up to their billing, but the King Edward Gold Cup here at Woodbine exceeded all expectations.

Sky Conqueror and Jambalaya, both Grade 1 winners south of the border this year, were renewing a rivalry that began here on their home grounds last year and were expected to provide most of the fireworks on Monday's holiday program.