SAN MATEO, Calif. - Russell Baze is more than a talented rider with strong determination and a fierce will to win. He's also quite a diplomat.

The man who will be the world's winningest rider for many years to come often has his pick of mounts in a race, but he can ride only one horse.

Baze had six mounts on Wednesday at Bay Meadows, and he won with one of them, leaving his career total at 9,529, still one short of Laffit Pincay Jr.'s all-time record of 9,530. Baze was scheduled on six more mounts for Thursday and seven on Friday.

MIAMI - South Florida will be the home of Breeders' Cup champions this winter.

Four of the eight Breeders' Cup winners are already stabled in the area, with a fifth, Street Sense, expected to join trainer Carl Nafzger's stable at Palm Meadows in the near future.

CHICAGO - If at first your can't-miss favorite misfires, bet, and bet, and bet again. That, at least, is the story of Mysterious Legend, who gobbled up win money throughout the fall before finally paying dividends with an easy win on Nov. 4. But after losing three straight races at odds of 9-5, 4-5, and 3-5, that $3.20 win payoff last time out wasn't sending anyone to the moon. And those interested in playing Hawthorne's featured third race on Friday face another Mysterious Legend dilemma: Take another short price, or try to beat the horse.

It is a rarity to find a single Grade 1 winner on a card at Delta Downs. But two in one race?

That is exactly what will take place Friday night when Appealing Zophie and Meadow Breeze meet in the $300,000 Delta Princess.

The one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies is one of five stakes on the card, and also part of a $50,000 -guaranteed all-stakes pick four that begins with the fifth race and concludes with the featured Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Gary Contessa began defense of his Aqueduct inner-track training title in fine fashion Wednesday, saddling three winners on the opening day card of the four-month meet.

Contessa, who won 61 races during the 2005-06 inner-track season, had nine horses entered for Thursday's card and put in another six for Friday. Among his sextet on Friday is Fighting Speedy, one of eight fillies and mares entered for the day's featured third-level allowance race at six furlongs.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Has Zeke the Sneak turned things around as a 5-year-old?

Zeke the Sneak didn't debut until he was 4, but he comes into Friday's $12,500 claimer at five furlongs on the turf with two straight victories, earning a career-best Beyer of 71 in both races.

Whether that will be enough to win Friday is another story. Requesto and Rangoon Raquetclub ran one-two in a similar race Nov. 2. Rangoon Raquetclub has finished second in his past three starts, the last two coming at this distance for this tag.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Barclay Tagg may have taken the conservative route with Showing Up this fall, but he won't repeat that pattern with the talented turf runner in 2007.

Tagg's decision to skip the Breeders' Cup and instead keep Showing Up with 3-year-olds paid off with victories in the Grade 2 Jamaica Handicap and Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, but is unlikely to result in an Eclipse Award as the nation's leading turf horse. A championship is what 2007 will be all about.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It has been a rather frustrating year for trainer Steve Attard, who had 9 wins and 22 seconds in Ontario this year heading into Friday's card. Six of those seconds came in stakes races, including three by Sweet Breanna, two from Saskawea, and one from Ascot Bill.

"It's been a little frustrating, but we're still making money," said Attard. "They've earned more than $500,000 between the three of them. It seems like some of the seconds, we were the best horse in the race. Some of them, we weren't. Some of the seconds could have been thirds."

Royal Copenhagen won the Grade 3 Pucker Up Stakes on Sept. 15 at Arlington. The catch is, that was Sept. 15, 2005, and Royal Copenhagen has not won again since then.

A Grade 1, several Grade 2's, a couple of Grade 3's, one listed stakes, and even a dip into the allowance race - nothing has yet coaxed a fourth career victory from Royal Copenhagen. But that shouldn't stop Fair Grounds players from making her the favorite in the featured ninth race Friday.

No Sleep looks like best-bet material Friday night in the $100,000 Treasure Chest at Delta Downs. A one-mile race for fillies and mares, the Treasure Chest is one of four undercard stakes that support the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot.

The Treasure Chest is also part of a $50,000 guaranteed, all-stakes pick four that starts in the fifth race, the $100,000 Sam's Town.