CHICAGO - It's not the salvation of the racetrack, not even a purse increase, but the fact that Hawthorne plans to expand its daily racing program from nine races to 10 beginning Monday shows the track has come back to life after a slow start to the winter-spring season.

Adding an extra race means paying out more in purse money each day and putting added pressure on the horse population. But Hawthorne's assistant general manager, Jim Miller, said the track is in a good position now to handle the change, and wants to make up some races lost to bad weather early in the meet.

High Moment didn't appear on paper to have the best early speed in the $100,000 Dahlia for fillies and mares at Laurel Park.

But the Rodney Jerkins-trained 4-year-old had once before in her five-race career grabbed an early lead, and wired a field of maidens at 1-2, and in the Dahlia she pulled off the same trick, at 17-1.

Ballado's Thunder won her first stakes in the restricted $79,550 Santa Lucia Handicap at Santa Anita, benefiting from a perfect trip under jockey Richard Migliore.

Ballado's Thunder ($16) ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.41, winning by 3 1/4 lengths over Freakin Streakin. Kris's Sis, the 2-1 favorite in the field of eight fillies and mares, finished third. The race was restricted to horses who had not won a stakes at a mile or over this year.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Takedown gave trainer Steve Asmussen his fourth win in the last seven runnings of the Northern Spur Breeders' Cup at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, when he rallied through the stretch for a three-quarter-length win over a late-charging Harrow Land. It was another neck back in third to Speedway.

The $100,000 Northern Spur was the first of two undercard stakes supporting the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby.

Favored Stradivinsky came close to a record-breaking performance in the $126,200 Jacques Cartier, the first stakes of the Woodbine meeting.

Stradivinsky ($5.50) scored by 7 3/4 lengths over Judiths Wild Rush, Canada's reigning champion sprinter. His six-furlong clocking, 1:09.68, was just .26 of a second off the track record, which was set by Riva's Tribute over a much quicker surface last September.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Golden Balls caught pacesetter Desert Code in the final stride to win Saturday's $108,300 La Puente Stakes at Santa Anita, pulling an upset in his U.S. debut.

Ridden by Brice Blanc, Golden Balls ($16.40) made up 7 1/2 lengths in the final quarter-mile to win by a nose, finishing a mile on turf in 1:34.61. The victory was worth $64,980 to a partnership and trainer Jim Cassidy.

Vauquelin, who was third early, held that position at the wire in the field of seven 3-year-olds.

Round Trip Flight, at 4-1 the longest price of three Jerry Hollendorfer-trained runners in Saturday's $76,875 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Oaks, flew past her stablemates in the stretch for a two-length win.

Polite Lil Sir maintained his perfect record by defeating nine Ohio-bred rivals in the $50,000 H.B. Noonan over a sloppy track at Beulah, on a cold, rainy day.

Breaking from post 9, Polite Lil Sir, a 3-year old gelding, stayed just off the pace to the turn and then responded when asked by jockey Christain Pilares to draw clear and win by two lengths in 1:10.64.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Silent Name separated himself from what appeared to be a highly competitive field Saturday when drawing off to a four-length triumph in the

Grade 2 Commonwealth Breeders' Cup on the Blue Grass Stakes undercard at Keeneland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When the field for the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland began to thin out last week, trainer Darrin Miller decided to reroute Dominican from his intended start in Saturday's Arkansas Derby, reasoning a race over Polytrack would give his 3-year-old his best chance.