The $600,000 WinStar Derby will be run March 18, 2007, about two weeks earlier than it was this year, and be part of a $500,000 bonus series. The WinStar Derby is the richest race of the Sunland Park meet, which opens Dec. 15 for 79 days of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing. The meet runs through April 29.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The 3-year-old colt Paddy Murphy has turned things around since he returned from a four-month layoff.

From December to February, Paddy Murphy had one victory in four starts, and his trainer, Paddy Gallagher, was not pleased with his progress.

"We backed off to see if he'd get stronger," Gallagher said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The spotlight takes a while to find John Shirreffs, so careful is the trainer to avoid it. When he wins a race, Shirreffs stands off to the side while the winner's circle photos are taken, enjoying the spectacle. The only time he has made an exception in recent years was when Giacomo won last year's Kentucky Derby, which thrust Shirreffs front and center.

DEL MAR, Calif. - When reviewers gather to critique the most terrifying pictures of the summer of 2006, the debate could be between "Snakes on a Plane" and We All Love Aleyna's trip in the Wickerr Handicap at Del Mar on July 29.

Go ahead and watch it, if you dare.

was in a box the whole race, then got sawed off at the furlong pole when attempting a last-gasp bid for daylight. He wound up sixth of eight, but might have been right there with any luck.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Perfect Drift races every year through the fall, gets a nice vacation over the winter, and returns at Keeneland in the spring. He has had the same schedule for the last four years, and it has worked gloriously, because Perfect Drift has earned $4,530,483 while winning 11 of 39 starts, including stakes at ages 3, 4, and 6. Now 7, Perfect Drift is making his third straight summer visit to Del Mar, where on Sunday he will compete in the Grade 1, $1 million Pacific Classic, a race in which he has finished second the past two years.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Ordinarily, a sixth-place finish, beaten 5 1/4 lengths would be deemed a disappointment for a horse that had won his previous two starts. But for Chace City, it had to be considered an accomplishment when he finished sixth in last month's Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs.

After a horrendous start in which he leapt twice after being bothered at the break, Chace City made up a ton of ground before running down the stretch on his wrong lead while finishing 5 1/4 lengths behind the winner, Circular Quay.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Allen Jerkens will attempt to do Saturday what he has done best throughout his Hall of Fame training career: win an important race when he's not expected to.

Jerkens will send out the uncoupled entry of Miss Shop and Teammate in Saturday's Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga. Jerkens has won the Alabama three times, including two years ago with Society Selection.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Lonnie Meche didn't have a shot to finish his breakfast on a recent morning at Louisiana Downs. His twin brother, Donnie, and his younger brother, Cody, whizzed around him as he was eating. Donnie took sips of his Gatorade, and Cody ate a portion of his sandwich. And that is how it has been in the standings here, too, with Donnie and Cody whizzing around second-leading rider Lonnie Meche.

Jim Gaston has broadened the scope of his involvement in Louisiana racing. Not only is he a trainer winning races at a 25 percent rate at Louisiana Downs and a 32 percent clip at Evangeline Downs, but he also has entered the breeding market. Gaston has imported the stallion A.P. Delta to Louisiana, and he and his wife, Rene, have purchased a handful of broodmares, bringing them in from Kentucky and Florida.

CHICAGO - The passing of Arlington Million Day marks the end of Arlington's Summer Festival of Racing and its modestly increased purse structure. Now comes Arlington's final segment, and though Kentucky horses that weren't sent to Saratoga still will start here, this meet eases back into a Chicago-circuit affair as it winds down.