AUBURN, Wash. - Tuesday's Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association summer yearling sale saw 153 yearlings change hands for $2,355,800, making for an average price of $15,397. The gross was down 12.6 percent from last year's summer sale, and the average was down 14.3 percent.

Contributing to the declines was an increase in the number of yearlings who did not reach their reserves, from 43 last year to 52 at Tuesday's sale. This list included the would-be sale topper, a Smoke Glacken colt, who did not reach his reserve despite receiving a bid for $77,000.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Bettors face a familiar dilemma in Friday's optional claiming feature at Louisiana Downs.

On the one hand, there are a couple of young, developing fillies in the mile-and-70-yard test who are searching for their first victory outside the maiden ranks. On the other, there is a pair of veteran mares who are going very well at the present time and have been entered for the $16,000 claiming price.

Clouet and Specific each fit into the former category. Both joined the ranks of winners earlier in the summer and continue to make progress.

ALTOONA, Iowa - Beau Watch heads a field of 10 in Friday's $40,000 Central Iowa Stakes for fillies and mares, one of three Thoroughbred stakes on Friday's 12-race program at Prairie Meadows.

Beau Watch, trained by Eric Reed, captured the $60,000 Wild Rose Stakes here on June 3, scoring a front-running neck victory at the same 1 1/16-mile distance as the Central Iowa. Beau Watch returned to run second in a $75,000 stakes at Mountaineer on June 20 before fading to finish ninth, beaten 11 lengths, in the Grade 3 Gardenia Handicap last out at Ellis Park.

It may lack the pomp and circumstance of Saratoga, but Belmont Park's 33-day fall meet that begins on Friday will surely not lack for drama and intrigue.

Of the 36 stakes races scheduled here over the next 6 1/2 weeks, 12 of them will be Grade 1 events that will help determine the top East Coast contenders for the 23rd Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships to be held Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs.

Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., concluded its 2006 meeting on Labor Day with gains in attendance, total and average daily handle, and offtrack wagering on the track's live races. Ontrack handle at the meet was down.

The 2006 meeting was shortened to 68 days as a result of a weather-related cancellation but still attracted 359,567 fans for an average daily attendance of 5,288, a 3 percent gain over 2005.

Handle from all sources averaged $531,219, a gain of 13.7 percent from 2005 when wagering averaged $467,210.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The seemingly sudden success of Kelly John Breen is actually the product of 20 years of hard work and dedication.

Breen, only 37, is about to wrap up a second straight trainer title at Monmouth Park, and his 2-year-olds were prominent in Saratoga's juvenile stakes.

Some have called him an "overnight sensation," but "rising star" is a much better description.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer John Forbes has a plan to help Czarina's Girl in the $52,000 second-level allowance feature for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares Thursday at Monmouth Park.

"Maybe we should sneak out there with the water truck at night and just keep going around and around," he said.

, 4, loves a wet track. She caught slop on Aug. 26 and responded with a career-best victory. She drew off to a 3 1/2-length win and earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure, the best last-race number among the seven runners in Thursday's six-furlong race.

CHICAGO - Arlington struggled to attract horses for its races last week, but perhaps this meet will go out with more of a shout than a whimper after all, since Thursday's card, sixth-from-last in the 2006 Arlington season, drew a surprisingly healthy 85 entries.

In the normal place of a feature - race 8 on a nine-race card - sits a highly bettable entry-level turf allowance race, while the day's highest-class race is the third, a third-level allowance also open to $62,500 claimers and carded for 1 1/16 miles on turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Malcolm Pierce-trained entry of Provocative Touch and Baradore should be favored in Thursday's Woodbine feature, a 1 1/16-mile allowance on the grass.

AUBURN, Wash. - Ten-year-old Themanwithebigcigr will be shooting for his third straight win when he takes on six rivals in Thursday's feature at Emerald Downs, a 1 1/16-mile affair to be run under $3,500 starter handicap conditions.