PORTLAND, Ore. - The biggest payday in the history of Oregon racing awaits Ex Mountain Cop on Sunday. If he can win the $48,000 Os West Oregon Futurity at a mile, thus completing a sweep of the six-furlong OTBA Sales Stakes and the futurity to earn a $30,000 bonus, his owners will collect nearly $57,000. That will eclipse the $55,000 earned by Present Value when he won the $100,000 Portland Meadows Mile under Bill Shoemaker in 1989.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sovereign Award finalists True Metropolitan and Last Answer will clash at 1 3/4 miles Sunday in Woodbine's closing day feature, the $125,000 Valedictory Stakes. The 13-race card starts at 12:40 p.m.

True Metropolitan is a Sovereign finalist for this year's champion older male horse in Canada. He has won his last five starts, all in stakes, in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.

Santa Anita will begin its winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26 with a purse structure higher than the start of the 2005-06 meeting but lower than the conclusion of last year's meeting, Santa Anita racing secretary Rick Hammerle said on Friday.

During the 2005-06 meeting, the track had two 5 percent purse increases. The purses for the start of the upcoming meeting will reflect the purses after the first increase of 2006, which occurred in February.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If you're going to name a horse after yourself, he better have talent. Fortunately for owner Lawrence Roman, Lawrence the Roman does.

Unbeaten in his first two starts, Lawrence the Roman will be heavily favored to remain undefeated when he meets eight rivals in Sunday's $65,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds at Aqueduct. The Damon Runyon is run at 1 1/16 miles over the inner track.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainers say horses know when they win. When a horse has gone winless for a while, trainers admit they look for confidence-building spots, and that's what Steve Specht is hoping he has found for McCann's Mojave in Sunday's Bay Meadows feature, an $80,000 optional claimer at one mile.

McCann's Mojave, whose last win came in the 2005 Cal Cup Classic, was sent north to Specht in hopes of rebuilding his confidence.

The 6-year-old McCann's Mojave has won 7 of 21 starts and $559,955.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A marathon meeting which began on April 1 comes to a close with a marathon card, including a couple of marathon races, here at Woodbine on Sunday.

The program will get under way at 12:40 p.m., a half-hour earlier than usual, in order to accommodate a 13orace card that is scheduled to wind up at 6:15 p.m.

The 1 3/4-mile Valedictory Handicap, the longest stakes race of the year, will go as the ninth race while a 1 7/8-mile starter allowance, the longest race of the Woodbine meeting, goes as the sixth.

Owner Dennis Weir and trainer Kevin Lewis appear to hold the aces in the filly division of the $40,000 Arizona Breeders' Futurity at Turf Paradise on Saturday with Staten Island and Beacon Falls, while R Big Stuff looms a heavy favorite in the $40,000 colts-and-geldings division. Both races are for Arizona-bred juveniles and lured full fields of 12.

The 3-year-old gelding Forty Crowns came to trainer Eddie Gaudet's barn as a maiden this past summer. In five starts for Gaudet, Forty Crowns has three wins, a second, and a third while steadily improving his Beyer Speed Figures from 66 to 100.

Whether Forty Crowns has reached the top floor or still has more room to improve is the question handicappers must ask themselves as he faces older horses in Saturday's $75,000 Jennings Handicap at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile race is restricted to Maryland-breds and drew a field of 11.

NEW ORLEANS - Last year Mr. Sulu became only the second horse to win three Champions Day races when he won his third Champions Day Turf. Dixie Poker Ace won the first three runnings of that 1 1/16-mile race.

On Saturday Mr. Sulu goes for the four-peat. The task will be extra difficult because trainer Josie Carroll couldn't find a prep race for Mr. Sulu, an 8-year-old who will be making his first start since July.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The dream of success in the major races of the spring begins on days such as Saturday at Hollywood Park. In some cases, the hype will also begin.

The 10-race program at Hollywood Park includes three races for maiden 2-year-olds, all in the pick six. Each race is full of well-bred first-time starters who could develop into candidates for the Santa Anita Oaks or Santa Anita Derby - and beyond.

"This is a fun time of year, with a lot of good babies coming out," said trainer John Sadler, who has starters in each race.