Delicate Dynamite is a hot horse from a hot barn, and as a result she will start as the favorite Saturday night in the $100,000 Goddess, the first of four open-company stakes on the closing-night card at Delta Downs. The stakes are worth a cumulative $400,000.

Other races on the program are the $100,000 Gulf Coast Classic, a battle of stakes winners Silent Pleasure, More Than Regal, and Middleweight; the $100,000 Sportsman's Paradise, led by the streaking 3-year-old Stonehouse; and the $100,000 Green Oaks.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Reade Baker, who has led the local training ranks with a total of 20 stakes winners over the past two meetings, will begin his 2007 season here minus a few potentially big shooters.

Judiths Wild Rush, whom Baker trained to back-to-back Sovereign Awards as champion sprinter, was transferred to Julian Canet for a winter campaign and will continue to compete under Canet's name for the immediate future.

Mike Fox, Backgammon, and Hubbert's Peak, all trained by Baker last year for owner D. Morgan Firestone, have been transferred to trainer Cliff Hopmans.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - At this time last spring, the advent of Polytrack was being heralded as the piece de resistance of the 50th anniversary celebrations here at Woodbine.

Polytrack again will be the focus of attention when the 167-day 2007 meeting opens here Saturday, as the overall effectiveness of the surface, which debuted last Aug. 30, has become a contentious issue.

"It's broken," said David Willmot, president and CEO of the Woodbine Entertainment Group, referring to Polytrack in terms echoing those he had used to define Woodbine's former main track last March.

Bob Bork, who has served as Sam Houston Race Park 's senior vice president and general manager since 1995, has been promoted to vice chairman and will focus on legislative efforts rather than the day-to-day operation of the track. Bork also will be spearheading a drive to bring the Breeders' Cup to the track in 2009 or 2010, and will be in charge of the development of a new Class 2 race track in Laredo, Texas.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A year ago, trainer Michael Matz went into the $1 million Florida Derby with everybody's favorite, Barbaro, who overcame a bad post to win as a prelude to his memorable performance in the Kentucky Derby.

On Saturday, Matz returns to the Grade 1 Florida Derby not with the favorite but with the promising outsider Chelokee. A relatively inexperienced son of Cherokee Run, Chelokee will attempt to earn Matz not only another big payday, but also a return trip to Churchill Downs.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The omelettes were perfect, not a wisp of egg out of place, at Godolphin's open house and breakfast Wednesday morning at the Al Quoz training center. A row of palms stood stately behind flamingoes out on the lagoon inside the training track, and longtime Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford provided suave commentary as a parade of some of the world's best horses walked onto Al Quoz's new Tapeta surface to train before the assembled media.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A total of 90 horses answered the bell on Wednesday when entries were taken for Saturday's opening 10-race card of the 2007 Woodbine meeting.

"I was a little apprehensive because of the winter and spring we've had," said Steve Lym, Woodbine's racing secretary. "But for opening day I'm very pleased."

This will be the first meet to conduct all main-track races over the one-mile Polytrack surface, which opened last Aug. 30, replacing the dirt oval.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Terry Dunlavy, who has been a fixture at Oaklawn Park since 1961, said he will retire following the close of the meet on April 14. Dunlavy is a former jockey, and has a farm in Hot Springs.

He first came here to ride for trainer Doug Davis Jr., in the 1960's. Dunlavy launched his training career at the now-closed Narragansett Park in Rhode Island in 1970, and said he won a handicap with his first starter, Vindictim. Other stakes winners he has trained include Dr. Spanky, Coastal Connection, Crystal Illusion, Nebraska, and Timetocheckin.

The Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity at Hollywood Park in December will be sponsored by the loan company CashCall and be renamed the CashCall Futurity, according to Paul Reddam, the president of CashCall and a horse owner. The race will be worth $750,000, he said.

Reddam did not disclose terms of the arrangement, which were recently finalized with Hollywood Park officials. CashCall sponsors a $750,000 turf race for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Hollywood Park in July known as the CashCall Mile. The race was known as the Royal Heroine Stakes through 2005.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - As post position draws go, Wednesday's pill pull for Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park was relatively uneventful as favorites Scat Daddy and Stormello drew posts 3 and 5, respectively, in a field of nine 3-year-olds.

The only surprises came before the draw itself when it was learned that trainer Ken McPeek would run Birdbirdistheword instead of Bold Start in the Florida Derby, and that Hal's My Hope would not be entered due to a cough he contracted earlier in the week.