NEW ORLEANS - Fiery Dancer heads a solid field of eight 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's feature race at Fair Grounds, the $75,000 Pago Hop at about a mile on the turf. Though she has only one win in six races on the grass, Fiery Dancer has run well in stakes competition, and finished second last May in the Edgewood Stakes at Churchill Downs.

"She's a pretty nice filly," said trainer Merrill Scherer. "She does everything easy. She'll rate if you want her to, she can lay close to the pace or come from behind."

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ordinarily, trainers are looking to run their horses in the easiest possible spot. But in the case of Discreet Cat, trainer Rick Mettee is looking forward to giving his undefeated 3-year-old his sternest test to date in Saturday's $300,000 Cigar Mile.

"He's ready to be pushed," said Mettee, who oversees Godolphin Racing's New York division. "I hope he is pushed."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It would have been extremely difficult for the Klein family and Steve Flint to have enjoyed a better Churchill Downs fall meet than they already have, but the owner-trainer team will try to put an exclamation point on an extraordinary month when they send out Change Up as a solid favorite Saturday in the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes, the co-feature of the closing-day program.

Plaid has won more than half her starts this year in a campaign that began in New Mexico. She will return to the state Saturday for the $75,000 Chaves County at Zia Park.

The one-mile race for fillies and mares drew a field of eight, with favoritism expected to go to Plaid, a multiple stakes winner. After capturing an allowance at Sunland Park in January, she went on to win races in Kentucky, Nebraska. and Louisiana and has compiled a 5-for-9 record in 2006.

The Five J's has been competitive with some of the best turf 3-year-olds in Southern California, and that likely will make him the favorite in Saturday's $40,000 Paradise Valley Stakes at Turf Paradise. A 7 1/2-furlong grass race for 3-year-olds, the Paradise Valley lured a full field of 10 and two also-eligibles.

Dramatic returns to turf, her favorite surface, in a $62,500 optional claimer for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on Saturday.

A 4-year-old Dynaformer filly, Dramatic was favored at this level in her last start, which followed a six-week layoff, and ran second as the 6-5 favorite in a race that was switched from turf to dirt.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A ferocious stretch-long duel ended in a narrow victory for Ermine when the 3-year-old filly out-nodded Joint Effort on Thursday in the Grade 2, $330,300 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs.

With Eddie Castro substituting for injured Calvin Borel, Ermine won by a head, returning $9.20 as third choice in a field of eight fillies and mares. Cursora, at 27-1 the longest shot in the field, finished third, three lengths behind Joint Effort.

NEW ORLEANS - Joseph Talamo, the 16-year-old apprentice jockey, wasted no time making an impression on the hometown fans, winning the first race of the 2006-2007 Fair Grounds meet on a Louisiana-bred claimer for trainer Larry Robideaux.

SAN MATEO, Calf. - Michael Wrona was at the microphone at Hollywood Park on Dec. 10, 1999, when Laffit Pincay Jr., aboard Irish Nip, went past Bill Shoemaker with his 8,434th victory to become racing's all-time winningest rider. Wrona, now the Bay Meadows track announcer, will also make the call when Russell Baze passes Pincay, perhaps as soon as this week.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There seems no better way to stage a sneak preview of the 2007 spring meet at Churchill Downs than by having high-class 2-year-olds close out the 2006 fall meet.