ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Barbeau Ruckus, who surpassed the $1 million mark in career earnings this year, will be the poster boy for Monday's yearling sales stakes program when he competes in the 1 1/16-mile Elgin here at Woodbine.

The Elgin is for colts and geldings, aged 3 and up, and is one of six $125,000 stakes races here Monday restricted to horses who passed through the ring at local yearling sales.

Barbeau Ruckus, a 7-year-old gelding, will be seeking his third win in the Elgin, having captured the 2003 and 2005 renewals. He also finished third in the 2002 Elgin.

There is speed Monday in the $100,000 Total Rewards Breeders' Cup at five furlongs on turf at Louisiana Downs, and then there is Unbridled Sidney.

"Back in her 2-year-old year, it would have been good if she could have gotten into the All American Futurity," her trainer, Ronny Werner, said jokingly about Quarter Horse racing's richest race. "She'd about have given them a run for their money."

CINCINNATI - Like virtually any other red-blooded American jockey, John McKee lists the Kentucky Derby as the race he would most like to win. But unlike most others, he has the premier event at River Downs, the Cradle Stakes, very high on his list.

"It would be very special to win it," said McKee, who grew up about a half-hour from River in the tiny town of Hamersville, Ohio. "It's where I got my start. Home is home."

CINCINNATI - When Ken McPeek decided to resume his training career earlier this year, he set a modest but realistic goal for himself.

"I told my staff the short-term goal is to win the Cradle," he said.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Considering that six- and seven-horse fields have been the norm lately at Arlington Park, the nine for Monday's Safely Kept Stakes is a pretty good number. And considering how soft the form was in Arlington's three weekend stakes - one graded, the other two of the overnight variety - the quality of the Safely Kept is pretty high.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - If adversity builds character, Air Lord should be very tough Monday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park.

The six-furlong Sapling is the top 2-year-old stakes of the Monmouth season.

Air Lord, trained by Todd Pletcher, debuted at Belmont Park on July 13 and battled for the lead between rivals before pulling clear to a 1 3/4-length win.

MIAMI - Two of the six runnings of the $80,000 Carterista Handicap have been rained off the turf. A similar fate is likely to befall Monday's seventh renewal, considering the amount of precipitation that has fallen on south Florida since Tropical Storm Ernesto passed through the area.

MIAMI - Trainers running 2-5 shots in $150,000 stakes rarely have as many worries coming up to the race as Steve DiMauro did before Saturday's at Calder. Fortunately for him, those concerns proved for naught, as Straight Faced remained undefeated with a game half-length victory over the late-running Villainage in the Affirmed, the middle leg of the open division of the Florida Stallion Stakes.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When Premium Tap beat Sun King in a little overnight stakes at Belmont Park two months ago, he gave John Kimmel his 1,000th career victory as a trainer. On Saturday, at cloudy and cool Saratoga, Premium Tap beat Sun King again, giving Kimmel something even more memorable.

Bouncing back from a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Whitney last month, Premium Tap overtook Second of June in midstretch and outdueled that rival through the lane to win the Grade 1, $500,000 by a half-length. It was three-quarters of a length back to Sun King in third.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pomeroy took advantage of a poor start by even-money favorite Commentator on Saturday and ran away to a 2 1/4-length victory over a star-studded field in the Grade 1 at Saratoga.

Starting from post 2, Commentator, trained by Nick Zito, lost all chance when he stumbled coming out of the gate and finished 10th in the field of 11.