NEW ORLEANS - Fair Grounds traditionally boasts two major attractions - the city of New Orleans and a racing surface upon which horsemen have heaped praise. The hope this year is New Orleans will return to its old self, and that the Fair Grounds racing surface will do the same.

But three blocks down Belfort Street, just behind barn 40 on the Fair Grounds backstretch, sit the other symbols of New Orleans - abandoned houses consumed by semi-tropical foliage. For everything here that is still quintessentially New Orleans, there are reminders that the city still isn't herself, and when Fair Grounds begins its 135th season of racing on Thursday - the first since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005 - it will do so in a landscape scarred by the storm and its floodwaters.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - While Discreet Cat has certainly been brilliant in the two races he has run in North America this year, they weren't the races Discreet Cat was supposed to display his brilliance. So as he nears his first Grade 1 test in Saturday's $300,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, there still remains the unanswered question of just how good is Discreet Cat?

"He could truly be a special horse; he hasn't proven that yet, but I think he could be something truly special," said Rick Mettee, the Godolphin assistant trainer who has been around Discreet Cat more than anyone.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike DePaulo unveiled a nice prospect here at Woodbine last Sunday when Easterman won his seven-furlong debut in convincing fashion.

DePaulo admits he is hoping that Easterman, a 2-year-old gelding who was so named because he was born on Easter Monday, could be the second coming of Shillelagh Slew.

Shillelagh Slew, who showed plenty of potential in four starts last year, really came into his own this season and is a leading candidate for the Sovereign Award in the 3-year-old colt or gelding division.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Four of El Don's victories have come on turf. He has also won three times on dirt. So even though he has made his last nine starts on turf, El Don's versatility gives trainer Marty Jones confidence that he will also handle Cushion Track in Thursday's $100,000 On Trust Handicap, the Thanksgiving Day feature at Hollywood Park.

NEW ORLEANS - Nicole Ario and Lamont Thompson, Fair Grounds security officers, rode out Hurricane Katrina at the racetrack. Someone had to be there when the storm subsided, and they volunteered. The hurricane hit on a Monday. Flying debris, pieces of the racetrack itself, crashed in the wind. Tuesday, the floods came.

"We saw the water start coming down the street, rising really fast just like in a movie," Thompson recalled.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There is ample recent precedent for Sangrita to win the Falls City Handicap. Two of the last three Falls City winners also won the local prep, the Churchill Downs Distaff (now the Chilukki Stakes), and after Sangrita scored impressively in the one-mile Chilukki during Breeders' Cup week, she brings forth the look of a major contender Thursday, when the Falls City will be run for the 91st time.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In Command, who withstood a long stretch drive to win a maiden sprint first time back from an eight-month layoff, will try to hold form as she steps to the next level in Wednesday's eighth race at Aqueduct.

Among In Command's rivals is Lady Jove, who may get a nice trip behind several speed horses.

Also in the six-furlong optional claimer are Madame Diva, Tax Considerations, and five New York-bred fillies that have run through their restricted conditions.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The biggest pick seven carryover of the Woodbine meeting, $158,023, will certainly spruce up Wednesday evening's eight-race card.

The featured seventh race, a six-furlong allowance, is the sixth leg of the pick seven. The likely favorite, Woodland, is no cinch to get the job done.

Woodland nearly captured an identical first-level allowance in his next-to-last outing, when he finished a neck behind L'Argent, who returned to win a competitive $62,500 allowance/optional claimer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Godolphin Stable's Discreet Cat, who has won all five of his lifetime starts as much the best, tuned up for Saturday's Cigar Mile with a bullet workout over Belmont's main track Sunday morning.