VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Very fast interior fractions certainly had a lot to do with Storm Forcast's upset win in the $55,850 Cover Girl Handicap at Hastings on Saturday. With Frank Fuentes aboard, Storm Forcast was still last when the field turned for home, but she rallied between horses to edge April Foolish by a head, finishing the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.30. Storm Forcast paid $14.85, and for her trainer, Dino Condilenios, it was a very profitable day.

DEL MAR, Calif. - This has been a career-defining year for Memorette, a 4-year-old filly trained by Bill Currin. She won her first graded stakes in the Beverly Hills Handicap at Hollywood Park in June and won a stakes against statebreds back in April.

This fall, Currin is hoping that Memorette can become a Grade 1 winner in the $400,000 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Oak Tree at Santa Anita in October. He has chosen Friday's $85,000 CTT and TOC Handicap over 1 3/8 miles on turf at Del Mar as a prep.

After Frank Calabrese, the perennial leading owner at Arlington Park, successfully negotiated to buy a filly named Formal Rush, trainer Wayne Catalano liked what he saw when he began training her on a daily basis.

Sure enough, Formal Rush won at first asking at Arlington, and now the Calabrese-Catalano juggernaut has another live bullet at their disposal. Formal Rush figures as a prime contender in a full field of fillies and mares in a $31,000 second-level allowance that serves as the featured event Friday at the Arlington Heights, Ill., track.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Mark Casse-trained entry of Seaside Links and Approval Rating will take center stage in Friday's fourth race at Woodbine, a seven-furlong turf allowance that serves as the prep for the Grade 3 Summer Stakes on Sept. 17.

Seaside Links and Approval Rating were both six-figure Keeneland yearling purchases by Woodford Racing LLC, a new racing partnership headed by Bill Farish Jr.

Guitars N Cadilacs yielded late to Tejano Trouble sprinting 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 12, and he stretches out to a mile at Northlands Park on Friday. Guitars N Cadilacs looms as the lone speed in the $22,500 allowance, which runs as the featured seventh race on the eve of the Canadian Derby in Edmonton.

AUBURN, Wash. - Lootie and Wazzu Red, the second- and third-place finishers in an Aug. 10 allowance, will be rematched in Friday's feature at Emerald Downs. The feature is a six-furlong affair for 2-year-old fillies who have started for a claiming price of $20,000 or less, and it has drawn a field of seven.

Lootie and Wazzu Red will be relieved to see that Friday's field does not include Asuraslew, who won the Aug. 10 race by 9 1/2 lengths as the overwhelming favorite. Lootie held second by almost two lengths over Wazzu Red after setting the early pace.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Funky Friends hasn't panned out for Swift Thoroughbreds, which claimed him for $80,000 at Hollywood Park last December. But he looks like the one to beat in a $35,000 optional claiming sprint that goes as the seventh race at Hastings Friday. Also in the field is last year's local 2-year-old champ, Regal Request.

Indian Hawke, a talented but inconsistent gelding, was back on top of his game Wednesday at Saratoga, leading throughout under Jose Santos to register a 1 1/2-length victory over Shuffling Madness in the $150,000 . The previously undefeated Run Red Run, the 8-5 favorite, finished third.

Saturday's $250,000 St. Louis Derby will be the richest race in the 81-year history of Fairmount Park, and it is also a rarity - a major stakes funded solely by a non-commercial private contribution.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Tough luck and a series of paceless races have kept Smart N Classy winless in five starts this season.

The 6-year-old Smart N Classy will try to regain the winning touch Saturday in Monmouth Park's Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown Stakes, a race she won last year.

Smart N Classy got up by a nose in last season's running of the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares on the turf.

This season has not been a total loss. Smart N Classy did get seconds in two stakes this season: the Dahlia at Laurel and the Politely at Monmouth.