DEL MAR, Calif. - When racing against California-breds, Da Stoops can do just about anything. In his 12-race career, Da Stoops has won four of seven starts against statebreds, including three stakes.

It is that record that will make Da Stoops a heavy favorite in Friday's $100,000 Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar.

is one of five 3-year-olds entered in the seven-furlong Real Good Deal. None of the other four runners is a stakes winner, though Bold Chieftain and Seven Nation Army have placed in stakes.

AUBURN, Wash. - Waverly Girl will shoot for her fourth win at the Emerald Downs meeting on Friday when she heads a field of nine fillies and mares, each eligible to be claimed for $8,000 to $10,000, in the 5 1/2-furlong feature.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Friday evening's Madamoiselle here at Northlands Park will see topweighted To Dream Again seek her second stakes victory in a field of eight that includes two other stakes winners in Ice Girl and Braetta. The Madamoiselle, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, offers a purse of $50,000.

To Dream Again, who will carry 124 pounds and be ridden by Leanne Painter, won the Sales Stakes and the Jenkins Memorial in Calgary this spring. Ice Girl won the one-mile John Patrick in her last start here July 16, with Braetta fifth.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There are key races and key workouts, and Wedded Woman has both angles going for her heading into Friday's Woodbine feature, an allowance prep for the Sept. 2 Ontario Colleen Stakes.

Wedded Woman, trained by Brian Lynch for Stronach Stable, had a productive winter stint on the grass at Gulfstream, where she won a first-level allowance in March despite a troubled trip. Her next start there resulted in a third-place

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - After knocking heads with some of the top turf fillies and mares in training, Asi Siempre found some class relief Wednesday and was able to wear down Bright Abundance to win the $73,250 by a neck at Saratoga.

Bright Abundance finished second for the third straight time in an overnight stakes, 4 3/4 lengths ahead of Connie Belle.

Jockey Jean-Luc Samyn suffered a broken collarbone and a fractured pelvis as a result of a spill during training hours Tuesday morning at Saratoga. Though the oldest active member of the Saratoga jockey colony - Samyn will turn 50 in November - he vows to return to race riding.

"When I retire it will not be after a fall,'' Samyn said by phone from his Saratoga Hospital room. "I would never go out like that. It's just another bump in the road, not uncommon in this game."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher may be sending his top male turf marathoner, English Channel, to Chicago for the Arlington Million, but he will still have a strong hand to play in Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Business figures have slumped during the first three weeks of the Del Mar meeting compared with a record-breaking 2005 meeting, and are unlikely to rebound before the season ends on Sept. 6, according to Del Mar's chief financial officer, Mike Ernst.

Through Monday, the 18th day of the 43-day meeting, ontrack handle was down 5.9 percent and ontrack attendance was down 4.5 percent, Ernst said. All-sources handle had fallen 6 percent.

DEL MAR, Calif. - For the moment, trainer Don Chatlos is content talking down the prospects of Divide and Conquer, a promising 2-year-old who starts in Sunday's $150,000 Best Pal Stakes at Del Mar. Divide and Conquer beat maidens convincingly in his debut at Hollywood Park on July 15, but Chatlos has been raving about an unraced colt by Buddha, who may start soon.

"I'm going to keep saying Divide and Conquer is not the best, and I hope he'll keep us going all the way to Churchill Downs in November," he said, referring to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - There's seldom a good reason for a horse to be sidelined 16 months, and there's always a big question to be answered when that horse comes back.

Thoughtuknew makes his return off a 16-month layoff on Friday when he meets five rivals in a five-furlong turf allowance with a $62,500 optional claiming tag at the Bay Meadows Fair. Five of the six runners are coming off a victory.