AUBURN, Wash. - Trainer Howard Belvoir said he has revised his opinion of Immigration, who seems certain to be favored in Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong Strong Ruler Stakes for 2-year-olds.

Fair Grounds officially released its 2006-2007 stakes schedule Friday, a reminder that the return of horseracing to New Orleans is drawing ever nearer.

The Fair Grounds season begins, as usual, on Thanksgiving Day, which is Nov. 23 this year. But there is little else usual about the upcoming meet. There has been no racing at Fair Grounds since March 2005, and horses have not returned to the track since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - People used to tease trainer Tom Proctor about selling his soul to the devil. After Proctor won the 1994 Breeders' Cup Distaff with the improbable longshot One Dreamer, his stable did not flourish to the extent he had hoped for, giving friends a chance to claim good-naturedly that he was still paying a stiff price for his proverbial 15 minutes of fame.

The 1 1/8-mile Queen City Oaks - take 2 - will be run Sunday at River Downs. The first version was held on July 22, when a starting-gate malfunction left half of the field momentarily stranded behind stall doors that failed to open on time, while the others got a head start.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Early nominations for the Super Derby, slated for Sept. 23, read like the usual list of suspects, as the connections of virtually all of the country's top 3-year-olds paid $250 this past week to keep their options open. While firm commitments among the 46 nominees were hard to come by, the race has a chance to come together quite well for freshman racing secretary Tony Patterson.

AURORA, Col. - The $25,000 Columbine, which attracted seven fillies and mares stretching out to 1 1/16 miles, heads a trio of stakes on Sunday's card at Arapahoe Park.

In an evenly matched lineup where none of the horses has raced beyond seven furlongs this season, Vannacide rates a slight edge in the Columbine, which goes as race 7 on the nine-race program.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Alec Fehr has been keeping a fairly low profile since returning to life as a public trainer at Woodbine this spring.

But Fehr, who trained champion turf filly Chopinina and the talented Nymphenburg during his four-year tenure as private trainer for Knob Hill Stable, will be looking to make a splash here Sunday when he sends out Colorful Judgement in the $75,000 With Approval.

The With Approval, an overnight stakes for Ontario-foaled 3-year-olds and upward over 1 1/8 miles on turf, attracted a field of nine.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - In his last start on July 17, Toneless earned one of the highest Beyer Speed Figures of this Fort Erie meet, a 97, when he triumphed by 3 3/4 lengths in a $10,000 starter allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

The effort will likely make Toneless the favorite for Sunday's $30,000 Peace Bridge, a 1 1/16-mile Cup race which drew a field of six.

Fair Grounds Race Course, set to resume racing operations in New Orleans this November, will offer a record $7.7 million in stakes purses, the track announced Friday.

The stakes schedule includes 65 different stakes - also a record - and peaks with Louisiana Derby Day, March 10, which includes four Grade 2 races and $2.1 million in purse money. The Mervin Muniz Handicap, Fair Grounds' biggest race for older turf horses, has been moved up on the calendar to be part of Louisiana Derby Day.

After a 2005 meeting that produced a record in all-sources handle, Fairplex Park has added $300,000 to purses for its upcoming meeting at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, Calif., from Sept. 8-25.

The increase will result in higher purses for 15 of the meeting's 17 stakes.

The most significant increase is to the meeting's top race for older horses, the $125,000 Ralph Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap at about 1 1/8 miles on Sept. 24. The race was worth $100,000 in 2005.