Since he was a child growing up in Sunset, La., Joseph Stanley Boxie has fooled around with horses, sometimes more than others. He rode match races at central Louisiana bush tracks before Evangeline Downs even opened, until in 1957 he took a spill and broke both his arms.

Boxie drove a city bus in Opelousas, La., while training a couple horses on the side. Retired from bus driving, Boxie dabbled in part-time landscaping, and was working on the lawn of one Charles Castille in Lafayette, La., when his ship came in.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park has shown growth in the crucial categories of mutuel handle and field size during the current fall meeting, but has had trouble drawing an ontrack crowd since the meet began on Nov. 1.

Through Sunday, the 25th day of the 36-day meeting, ontrack handle has increased 9 percent and all-sources handle has increased 14 percent, according to the track's president, Jack Liebau The figures exclude handle from the Breeders' Cup program on Nov. 4, a major day that was not part of the track's 2005 schedule.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The presence of Somethinaboutlaura, possibly the best horse running in northern California, combined with the prediction of rain, could affect the field for Saturday's $100,000 California Distaff Turf Championship at Bay Meadows.

But neither is likely to keep Bai and Bai on the sidelines in the one-mile race for California-bred fillies and mares.

Trainer Bill Delia plans to enter Bai and Bai, a $3,200 bargain-basement 3-year-old filly, who returned from a six-month layoff to win her turf debut in the Palo Alto Handicap on Nov. 11.

HOUSTON - Mystery Classic put his dazzling speed on display in last Saturday night's $50,000 Spirit of Texas at Sam Houston Race Park, when he wired the field for his sixth straight win and equaled his career-best Beyer Speed Figure, a 102.

The victory was one of the most impressive performances during the annual Texas Champions Day, a program of eight Texas-bred stakes worth $475,000.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Executive Flight and Sudsy Baby, the two 3-year-old fillies in Friday's Woodbine headliner, have taken different paths toward the seven-furlong, $80,000 allowance/optional claimer.

Executive Flight competed in a series of restricted stakes for 3-year-olds during the middle portion of the meet. She was third on the dirt in the Lady Angela in May, and eventually made a successful transition to the turf when she finished a close second in the Passing Mood in July.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ferocious Won found the nine furlongs of the Albany Handicap a tad too far when his attempt to sweep the New York-bred Triple Crown fell eight lengths short last summer at Saratoga.

Away for nearly four months, Ferocious Won returns to the races in a third-level allowance race Friday that serves as Aqueduct's featured event on a nine-race card. The $49,000 race will be run at six furlongs over the inner track.

CHICAGO - The pace of Chicago stakes races slows to a crawl this time of year. All that remain on the 2006 calendar are the Dec. 16 Jim Edgar Futurity, which is shaping up as a pretty good little race, and Saturday's Pat Whitworth Debutante, the female counterpart to the Edgar. Both are for Illinois-bred 2-year-olds who were made eligible to the races through early payments months ago.

Majestic Stream, a 3-year-old who has won all three of his starts this meet at Zia Park, has been cross-entered in both the $150,000 Zia Park Derby on Saturday and the $150,000 Zia Park Distance Championship Handicap for 3-year-olds and up on Sunday.

The races will be run during the track's closing week of racing.

Xchanger, a troubled third in the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs, was due back at his base at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland on Wednesday and will be freshened before any next-race plans are made, said his trainer, Mark Shuman.

"Most likely we'll not look for a race until the end of January, beginning of February," said Shuman, who is discussing options with owner Domenico Zannino.

Shuman said Xchanger could run in some of the 3-year-old stakes at either Oaklawn Park or Gulfstream.

Although the Quarter Horse meet at Lone Star Park closed last Saturday night and the Thoroughbred meet does not open until April 12, the stable area is far from quiet. The track is operating as a training center during its down time, and this Sunday it will be the site of the annual winter mixed sale put on by Fasig-Tipton Texas.

There are 181 horses cataloged to the Thoroughbred auction, which will be held in a pavilion in the stable area. The sale is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Central.