HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - For trainer Vickie Foley, the 88-day meet at Gulfstream Park started in perfect fashion Wednesday. Foley sent out Donnie's Madam to win the first race of the meet, leading to smiles all around for Foley, her staff, and jockey Edgar Prado.

"We'd all said at the barn how nice it'd be to win the first race of the meet," said Foley. "This filly hadn't panned out so far for us, so we dropped her into this spot, and it happened to be the first race. It all worked out just great."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bettors at New York's offtrack betting sites were unable to wager on Gulfstream Park's races Wednesday, opening day of the meet, when the Florida division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association refused to give its approval to send the signal to the state's six OTB companies.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When you finish up the track at even-money, you better have an excuse. On Friday at Santa Anita, bettors will decide if trainer Bobby Frankel's excuse for Naughty Rafaela is legitimate.

A Group 1 winner in Brazil and a troubled third in her U.S. debut Oct 12 at Santa Anita, Naughty Rafaela was even-money in a minor stakes Nov. 11 at Hollywood Park. Empty turning for home, she finished fifth of six.

"She was disappointing, but she was uncomfortable and maybe I brought her back too soon," Frankel said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Rusty Arnold had Big Prairie ready to go last month in the Grade 2 McKnight Handicap at Calder, but the race came off the turf. It was the same story for a $50,000 race later at Calder. Scratched from both spots, Big Prairie might have had to wait until the Jan. 28 Mac Diarmida Handicap at Gulfstream Park for a race, but then a cozy little allowance race popped up Friday, and Arnold said to count him in.

A fourth-level allowance, the race has a $51,500 purse and will be run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

The Scott Blasi barn - which will turn back into the Steve Asmussen barn next week - is sorting through its early-season 3-year-olds, picking out stakes spots for the more advanced and talented colts and fillies. Round one of Fair Grounds's 3-year-old stakes series, the Lecomte for males and the Tiffany Lass for females, is next Saturday, and Blasi said Tuesday that the stable should have a horse for both races - just not any of the best-known horses.

Turfway Park showed increases in both all-sources and ontrack handle at its 25-day Holiday meet that ended Sunday.

All-sources handle averaged $3,528,969 a day, an increase of 13.9 percent over last year's $3,097,188. Ontrack handle averaged $139,197, up 3.2 percent from last year's $134,905. Although Turfway canceled eight of its nine races on Dec. 13 due to a power outage, seven of those races were made up over the balance of the meet. In total, 259 races were run, 12 more than at 2005's 24-day meet.

The Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board has rejected a petition from jockeys at Philadelphia Park seeking to join a union, stating that jockeys are independent contractors and not employees of the racetrack.

The ruling, issued in a letter on Dec. 22, states that "horse jockeys have been determined to be independent contractors rather than employees. Accordingly, the petitioned-for jockeys do not have organizational rights as employees under the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act."

Suffolk Downs outside of Boston in Massachusetts opened for full-card simulcasting on Wednesday morning after legislators passed a bill late Tuesday night allowing the state's four parimutuel tracks to take bets on simulcasts.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Cambiocorsa was the queen of the Santa Anita downhill course, but she may have surrendered her title Monday by finishing seventh in the Grade 3 Monrovia Handicap. It was the fourth loss from her last five starts, and stumped trainer Doug O'Neill and owners Ty Leatherman and Robert Naiff.

"She looks okay and came out fine," O'Neill said. Cambiocorsa, however, was scheduled to ship Wednesday to Magali Farm in Santa Ynez for a battery of tests to determine her future - either on the track or in the breeding shed.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jazil is among a select group of horses that have raced over Aqueduct's inner track en route to glory in a Triple Crown race. However, Jazil, last year's Belmont Stakes victor, is believed to be the first classic winner to return to race at New York's winterized racing wonderland.

In 1993, Prairie Bayou won the Count Fleet and Whirlaway stakes over the inner track before taking that year's Preakness. In 2004, Smarty Jones kicked off his 3-year-old campaign winning the Count Fleet on his way to glory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.