CHICAGO - It wasn't a week ago that trainer Chris Block was mildly bemoaning the way things hadn't quite fallen into place for him at this Hawthorne meet, a stark contrast to last fall, when Block caught breaks, had nothing but live horses, and won a bunch of races. Then came Wednesday. Block won early on the card with a first-time starter in a maiden claimer, but that was only a warm-up. Mystery Giver, the old warrior, called forth his best form from three and four seasons ago, winning a stakes-class turf allowance race by 3 1/2 lengths.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Breeders’ Cup Sprint killed the 2006 California Cup Sprint.

Bordonaro, Thor’s Echo, and Areyoutalkintome –the leading California-bred sprinters – will enter the BC Sprint next week, leaving the $150,000 Cal Cup Sprint on Saturday as a shallow six-furlong race with a possibly suspect favorite.

Da Stoops can prove otherwise if he reproduces his best form. Although he has not run a fast race since January and has missed two weeks of training in fall, Da Stoops inherited favoritism when it was announced that Areyoutalkintome would scratch from the race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Saturday’s $150,000 California Cup Matron at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting appears to be a match race between the established Somethinaboutlaura and the improving Getback Time.

Both fillies race on or near the lead. Somethinaboutlaura has used that style to great effect this season, winning 3 of 9 starts and $295,405.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The party ends on Saturday.

No, the neighbors have not complained about the noise, and the cops did not show up to break it up and tell everyone to go home, but the last three years have certainly been a cause of celebration for owner Don Van Kempen and trainer Jim Cassidy.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - From flagfall to finish, big fields dominated the Keeneland fall meet, leaving no doubt about the resounding success of the track's new Polytrack surface. And to put an exclamation point on the meet, where fields were averaging just over 10 horses per race as the final days wound down, the closing-day feature - the Grade 3, $150,000 at 1 1/8 miles - got one of its deepest fields in years when 13 showed up in the entry box.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Kim Dobson, who has 5 wins from 11 starts at the meeting, had no intention of continuing her vocation after the 2005 meeting here at Fort Erie concluded. She had 2 wins from 25 starts for that meet.

"It wasn't a good year and I didn't have anything worth keeping," said Dobson, 45. "I sold my horses."

Dobson, who has a school-age daughter, believed that she could fulfill her role of mother better by working at another job.

"I looked around at real jobs and found out this was still the best option for me," said Dobson.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Seven furlongs and the apparent plethora of other speed in the field could make Afrashad a vulnerable favorite in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Sport Page Breeders' Cup Handicap at Aqueduct.

Afrashad, owned by Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's Godolphin Racing, has won 3 of 4 starts - all at six furlongs - this year, including a monster performance in a third-level allowance race at Belmont Park on Sept. 14. He won that race by 3 3/4 lengths in the slop and earned a gaudy Beyer Speed Figure of 111.

Trainer M. Anthony Ferraro has won the last three runnings of the Finger Lakes Juvenile, and is well-positioned to make it four in a row with South Fourth St. on Saturday.

The six-furlong Juvenile, the final stakes of the season at Finger Lakes, drew a field of seven 2-year-olds, including a coupled entry from trainer Charlton Baker.

South Fourth St. easily won his career debut locally and will add Lasix for his second start.

It will be interesting to see whether jockey Robert Messina sticks with South Fourth St. or opts to ride Lunatrick for trainer Sal Iorio Jr.

Based on her 4-for-5 record locally, which includes back-to-back stakes victories, and the fact she is trained by Todd Pletcher, whose horses are winning at a 32 percent clip at the meet, the 2-year-old filly Glacken's Mark could go off at less than the track's 2-1 morning-line odds in Saturday's $100,000 Blue Hen Stakes at Delaware Park.

Value-oriented horseplayers who pay close attention to track bias, however, may gravitate toward Super Natascha, a filly the Blue Hen favorite has already beaten.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Super Image enters the $125,000 California Cup Juvenile with a three-race win streak and one possible glitch - the front-runner has never raced around two turns.

A fast gelding sired by High Brite, Super Image enters off three sprint-race romps. But can he go long?

"I don't have the answer for that," trainer Lloyd Mason admitted. "His mother could go long, so we feel the breeding is there. I think the horse will rate."