OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Proving that even retirement doesn't last forever, John Imbriale was back in the Aqueduct announcer's booth on Friday. Imbriale was scheduled to fill in for Tom Durkin through Sunday, but will return as the winter announcer on Jan. 4 and call Aqueduct's races through March 31.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Last July, jockey Aaron Gryder finished the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting 10th in the standings. It did not meet his expectations, six months after he had relocated his family from the East to his native California.

"I wanted more," he said. "I wasn't happy with my Hollywood Park meeting in the summer. I didn't think things were going the way I thought we could. The bottom line, I had to place it on my shoulders."

SAN MATEO, Calif. - What's not to like - on paper, anyway - about Irresponsible King Sunday at Bay Meadows?

A 4-year-old gelding, Irresponsible King makes his third start in a one-mile maiden race on turf against six rivals.

He has earned Beyers of 80 and 77 in his two starts; none of his rivals has earned a Beyer higher than 75. In his last start Nov. 11, he returned from a 10-month break and finished second by 1 1/4 lengths to his entrymate, and 5 1/2 lengths in front of the third-place finisher.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The recent retirements of the Grade 1 winners Healthy Addiction, Hollywood Story, and Star Parade have left a glaring gap at the top of the filly and mare dirt division in California.

Any of those fillies would be an odds-on favorite in Sunday's $150,000 Bayakoa Handicap at Hollywood Park. None of the 14 fillies and mares entered in the Grade 2 race over 1 1/16 miles has won a graded stakes on dirt in the United States this year.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer John Terranova hopes to carry his recent hot streak from Aqueduct's main track to the inner track when he sends out Twistaway in Sunday's $65,000 East View Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies.

Terranova went 5 for 16 during Aqueduct's main-track meet. His first runner on the inner track, Makin Me Famous, finished second in a maiden race on Thursday at odds of 15-1.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Soul Rebel, an eye-catching winner of his debut at Woodbine on Oct. 5, 2005, was scheduled to make his second start in the Sir Barton Stakes on Nov. 27, 2005, but was a late scratch.

"He'd only raced once, and raced real impressively, and I was probably being a little aggressive if we ran him," said John Charalambous, who trains Soul Rebel for the Kingfield Farm of owner and breeder Richard Day.

The wintry world of Turfway Park is Steve Elzey's, and everyone else just seems to live in it.

Elzey is the jockey agent who has dominated Turfway for years. Having represented such top riders as Willie Martinez, Rafael Bejarano, and Kris Prather during highly productive winters at Turfway, Elzey seemingly finds the right jockey to fit the brand of racing offered during the four-plus months of winter racing at Turfway.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The slot machines at Gulfstream Park have been open for less than three weeks, and with business booming right out of the gate, horsemen can expect to see an immediate boost to purses when the 2007 meeting begins on Jan. 3.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Arch Hall tries to win the Sir Barton Stakes for the third straight time on Sunday at Woodbine.

Arch Hall captured the 2004 Sir Barton when it was limited to Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. Last year, the 1 1/16-mile contest was opened up to include older runners, and he beat a good group, which included Barbeau Ruckus.

Arch Hall had a productive campaign last winter at Oaklawn before taking the Grade 3 Eclipse Stakes here in May. He tailed off in the summer, but won the Bunty Lawless Stakes in his second start off a layoff Nov. 2.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Though he could only manage a third-place finish aboard favored Ed Miracle in Thursday's ninth race at Aqueduct, jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr. still had reasons to feel like a winner. After a six-month experiment riding in Southern California, Arroyo was home.

"I feel great that I'm back - this is home," Arroyo said earlier in the day. "I liked California, it was a good experience, but there's nothing like home. After Puerto Rico this became my home, and I didn't really realize it till I left."