The featured ninth race on Thursday at Fair Grounds is carded for 1 1/8 miles on turf, but fans or bettors hoping to see a grass race should prepare for a surface switch.

By MARCUS HERSH

Teuflesberg has been attacked by yellow jackets while readying for a race at Saratoga, fallen down in a fit of pique while being saddled at Keeneland, and stumbled badly leaving the gate in three different starts. Recently, his luck has changed, and Teuflesberg has begun to consistently show the talent he only occasionally flashed early in his 2-year-old season.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The first month of the Santa Anita meeting will give the 2-year-old filly Jump On In a chance to prove her reputation from last summer was a true indication of her talent.

Jump On In won a maiden race by an easy 5 1/4 lengths at Del Mar in August, but has failed in two subsequent starts, finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and second in the Moccasin Stakes at Hollywood Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. - As the field for the second race at Santa Anita on Tuesday neared the start for a downhill turf sprint, jockey Garrett Gomez noticed that cars weren't whizzing by on adjacent Colorado Place. Instead, they were sitting there, bumper to bumper.

CHICAGO - Hope you liked the sixth race on Dec. 9 at Hawthorne, because they're basically running it again on Thursday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – One of the better 3-year-old fillies on this circuit last winter, Daytime Promise has not yet regained her best form since returning from injury last month.

Trainer Gary Contessa will give her a little help on Thursday, when he runs both Daytime Promise and Lunar Rendezvous as a coupled entry in a second-level allowance race at Aqueduct. The mile and 70-yard race also has an optional claiming provision of $35,000 but none of the nine horses entered is eligible to be claimed.

MIAMI - Tour of the Cat could take a big step toward reaching $1 million in career earnings Thursday, when he tops a field of five older runners entered in a $30,500 fourth-level allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs at Calder. The race also includes an optional claiming price of $62,500.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The timing is right, but the distance is wrong. If Somethinaboutlaura wins the $75,000 Kalookan Queen Handicap on Thursday at Santa Anita, it will be because she simply is the best filly in the race.

"It's not an ideal situation," said trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, citing the 6 1/2-furlong distance of the Kalookan Queen. "We're using this as a prep. The two-turn race is what we're shooting for."

ALBANY, Calif. - Thursday's Golden Gate Fields card was drawn 10 days earlier, a rarity that some trainers find beneficial.

"It makes it very easy," said Steve Sherman, who is in charge of his father Art's northern California string.

"I love when we enter four or five days out, like Saturday for Thursday [racing], or Sunday for Friday. You can plan your work schedule, your medication schedule."

The draw 10 days ago, on the closing day of Bay Meadows, allowed horsemen as well as the racing office staff a rare break during the year-round racing schedule.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Achilles of Troy, one of the fast risers and equally fast crashers on the 2006 Triple Crown trail, is working his way toward a comeback in 2007. On Dec. 17, he breezed three furlongs in 37.45 seconds over Aqueduct's inner track.