FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Don MacRae said he got lucky for Saturday's six-furlong Lucky Fan Cup, the second-to-last of 20 Cup races here at the Fort Erie meeting.

The $30,000 Lucky Fan is restricted to 2-year-fillies who have had a start at the Fort. Just five runners were entered, and two of them are from the barn of MacRae: Miss Jailynne and Stylish Belle. Both are owned by Anthony Zizza.

"There's not too much in there," said MacRae. "Both fillies are very talented. I'm hoping speed goes. Miss Jailynne is just coming around."

ARCADIA, Calif. - , the top turf miler in the United States, will have to wait a month to find a formidable opponent in a major stakes this fall. He will be facing a moderate field in an attempt to win his fourth consecutive stakes in Saturday's $250,000 Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita.

The race is Aragorn's final start before the Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Circular Quay's record indicates he is perfect - but the way he has won his races might be even better.

Rare indeed is a colt who has ascended to the top of the 2-year-old division by using a stretch-running style more closely associated with mature racehorses. Circular Quay has rallied from well behind to win all three of his starts, all sprints, and when he runs as an odds-on favorite in the Grade 1, $500,000 on Saturday at Keeneland, he will be trying to prove that his come-from-behind style can be equally effective in two-turn races.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The front-running Fleet Indian has won all five of her starts this year, in large part because she has gotten favorable pace scenarios in those races. The late-running has lost all five of her starts this year, in large part because she has not gotten favorable pace scenarios.

Such was the case in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga when Fleet Indian waltzed to an easy 4 1/2-length victory over Balletto, who had to move earlier than her connections would have preferred in finishing second.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Of the probable starters for Sunday's $250,000 Norfolk Breeders' Cup Stakes at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting, only Spot the Diplomat is a two-time stakes winner. Yet Spot the Diplomat may turn out to be one of the longest shots in the projected field of seven.

While several Norfolk hopefuls have run in graded stakes, Spot the Diplomat has yet to try that level. His two stakes wins came in statebred races at Del Mar - the Graduation Stakes over 5 1/2 furlongs on July 26 and the I'm Smokin Stakes over six furlongs on Sept. 4.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Roger Attfield was weighing the options for his talented turf mare Noble Stella in his office here at Woodbine on Thursday morning.

"There's the E.P. Taylor here, the Dowager at Keeneland, and the Breeders' Cup," noted Attfield.

The Grade 1, $2 million E.P. Taylor, over 1 1/4 miles, and the $150,000 Dowager, at 1 1/2 miles, both will be run Oct. 22.

The Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf will be held at Churchill Downs on Nov. 4 and Noble Stella would have to be supplemented at a cost of $180,000.

It took Bright One about 10 weeks over the summer to go from an unknown first-time starter to one of the more exciting prospects of the so-called “second season,” which encompasses the major 3-year-old stakes run after the Triple Crown.

The time needed to determine whether Bright One is a potential candidate for American racing’s biggest prize, the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will be considerably shorter – the less than two minutes it will take him to complete the 1 1/16 miles of Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – When a race has a Grade 1 ranking and a $600,000 purse, the host track ought to be able to get a first-class lineup. And that seems to be just what Keeneland got when entries were taken for the Shadwell Turf Mile, which anchors a sensational 10-race Saturday card.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Perhaps the weight spread will get . Perhaps one of his rivals will jump up with the race of his life. It might happen. But as Lava Man prepared for the Grade 2, $500,000 Goodwood Breeders’ Cup Handicap on Saturday at Santa Anita’s Oak Tree meeting, there was no indication that the year-long campaign he has waged has taken any toll on him.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Essential Edge will try to duplicate her scintillating Ontario Colleen Stakes score Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Carotene, a nine-furlong turf stakes for Ontario-foaled 3-year-old fillies.

A royally bred daughter of Storm Cat, Essential Edge crushed maidens on the main track in her June 14 seasonal bow. After running third in the Bison City Stakes at Fort Erie, she finished third in the allowance prep for the Ontario Colleen.

Trainer Eric Coatrieux said Essential Edge ran greenly in the Colleen prep.