Over the objections of a state racing official, the Arizona Racing Commission last week voted 4-1 to grant Turf Paradise its permit to continue live racing and simulcasting through January 2009.

Jockey Justin Shepherd returned to Remington Park this meet for the first time since 2003, and he wasted little time making his presence felt. Shepherd won six consecutive races aboard Red Rock Creek, upset the $75,000 Sprint Championship with $69 winner Lineofbull, and heads into the final week of racing second in the standings behind Cliff Berry.

"It's just been an excellent meet," said Shepherd, 20.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Steve Knapp is candid in explaining Wild Buddy's presence in Friday's $55,000-added John Henry Handicap at Bay Meadows.

"It's nice to get away from the monsters," he said.

Wild Buddy is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the one-mile turf race, which drew 14 entrants.

Fabulous Strike ($2.80) outclassed the competition in Tuesday night's $75,000 Sophomore Sprint Championship at Mountaineer Race Track, leading wire to wire and coasting to an 8 3/4-length victory.

No other horse in the field of eight 3-year-olds had even competed in a stakes this season. In contrast, Fabulous Strike, based at Penn National with trainer Todd Beattie, came into the Sophomore Sprint with two minor stakes wins at Belmont Park, a second in the Gallant Bob Handicap at Philadelphia Park, and a fourth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens, also at Belmont.

Appealing Zophie, winner of the Grade 1, $250,000 Spinaway in September, will make her next start in the $300,000 Delta Princess at Delta Downs on Dec. 1, said her trainer, Scott Blasi. In her most recent start, Appealing Zophie was fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

Blasi said the timing of the Delta Princess, a one-mile race for 2-year-old fillies, works well for Appealing Zophie.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Stevie Wonderboy, last year's champion 2-year-old male, had his return postponed because of an ankle chip, which was discovered after his most recent workout at Hollywood Park, trainer Doug O'Neill said.

The injury is to his right front leg, which is the same leg Stevie Wonderboy injured earlier this year. O'Neill said the current injury is not related to the earlier one, which has kept Stevie Wonderboy on the shelf all year. The chip was removed via surgery.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When Friday's Grade 3 Generous Stakes was split into two $75,000 divisions, trainer John Sadler breathed a sigh of relief that his Warning Zone was drawn in the race that does not include Whatsthescript.

Whatsthescript outran Warning Zone in the Pinjara Stakes at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting last month, and Sadler wanted to avoid him.

Western Prize appears to be sitting on a stakes win, and he can secure the first of his career in the $75,000 Eddy County, a one-mile race for 2-year-olds to be run during a special Friday card at Zia Park.

Others in the seven-horse field include Topper Power, a stakes winner who is 3 for 4, and the stakes-placed Bold Vow.

NEW ORLEANS - The trainer Tom Amoss has Breeders' Cup horses to run at the Fair Grounds meet, but not right away. Both Rush Bay, who finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and Baghdaria, who was a surprisingly decent seventh in the Distaff, are turned out for 60 days of farm rest in Kentucky.

The pair will rejoin Amoss's Fair Grounds string later in the meet, Amoss said. "We'll bring them back and point them for races at the end of the Fair Grounds meet," he said.

NGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Doug O'Neill said he will make a decision on Friday whether to start Cambiocorsa in the $100,000 Cat's Cradle Stakes for statebred females on Friday or the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Sunday.

"We'll let the posts dictate what we'll do," O'Neill said. "We're scared of a couple of speed horses in the Matriarch."