VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With standouts in most divisions, there shouldn't be any surprises when trophies are handed out at the annual Industry Awards Dinner next spring. The dinner will be held in the Red Robinson Theatre at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam on March 16.

The slots room at Gulfstream Park opened to the public at noon on Wednesday, attracting so many patrons that they had to wait in line to play the machines. The opening marked the end of a series of legal and technical delays that had postponed the opening of the slot room as well as a poker room.

Gulfstream, along with three other Broward County parimutuel sites, was awarded slot machines in a bill passed by the Florida legislature earlier this year.

"This is the culmination of a great effort from many, many people," said Gulfstream Park's president, Paul Micucci

Sam Houston Race Park officials are looking for a spike in field sizes during the track's 68-night meet that opens on Friday. The season will conclude on April 7, 2007, with the running of the richest race of the meet, the Grade 3, $200,000 Connally Breeders' Cup Turf.

Interest in the new season has been high, said Eric Johnston, racing secretary at Sam Houston. He said the track received requests for 1,700 stalls, up from 1,550 for the same meet a year ago. There are 1,136 stalls at Sam Houston.

Byrne was right, as Mesawmi drew off to an impressive victory over a course rated yielding. And with Mesawmi ready to run again Friday in the day's $61,000 feature, Byrne was glad not only to see a steady rain falling Wednesday morning at Churchill, but also to hear that more was in the forecast.

Byrne noted that "the only loss for this horse in his last four races was over a very hard turf," on Sept. 2 at Ellis Park. "He really likes the Churchill course, especially when it has some give to it."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The matchup between Barracuda Boy and Just Rushing will be an interesting race within a race in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Woodbine Slots Cup at 1 1/16 miles.

Barracuda Boy and Just Rushing both are 5-year-old geldings and once raced for claiming prices as low as $20,000 when they were trained by Nick Gonzalez for Stronach Stable. Both have taken new leases on life in 2006 and come into the Woodbine Slots Cup on win streaks that include stakes victories.

Jockey Cliff Berry has been on a roll for the past decade, racking up 10 titles at his home track at Remington Park, where he is the all-time leading rider. But no year has been more significant in Berry's career than 2006. He reached the 3,000-win milestone in September, has already set a personal record for mount earnings in a year with $4.4 million, and will head to Churchill Downs next week to ride Going Ballistic in the Grade 2, $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Zada Belle, a nine-length winner of a maiden race at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Oct. 13, has been purchased privately by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stable and transferred to trainer Eoin Harty's stable at Palm Meadows, Fla., Harty said Wednesday.

The transaction was completed in late October. Harty said he was not sure when Zada Belle would make her next start.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Meribel and Precious Kitten, who have traded close decisions while developing into two of the top 3-year-old turf fillies in North America, are among a field of 11 entered for Saturday's Grade 2 Mrs. Revere Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Precious Kitten defeated Meribel by a neck in winning the Sept. 30 Martha Washington at Laurel Park, then Meribel turned the tables and beat Precious Kitten by a half-length in winning the Oct. 20 Valley View at Keeneland.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Friday night's Bay Meadows feature could be the defining moment of Stellar Magic's career. A 4-year-old gelding, he may be the longest shot among five horses in the race, a $62,500 optional claimer at one mile, but all trainer Brian Pitnick wants is a cleanly run race so that he can assess where Stellar Magic will fit in the future.

Once good enough to go off at 2-1 in last year's El Camino Real Derby, Stellar Magic's form has been compromised by surgeries on his ankles and knees, Pitnick said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dreamin of Victory, unraced since finishing fourth in the Albany Stakes at Saratoga, returns for new connections and heads a field of nine New York-breds in Friday's eighth race, a $46,000 second-level allowance with an optional claiming price of $30,000.