ELMONT, N.Y. - , who each was a big-figure winner of a first-level allowance race in his last start, appear the main contenders in Sunday's 27th running of the $100,000 Mike Lee Stakes.

A field of eight 3-year-old New York-breds entered the seven-furlong Mike Lee, the first leg of a three-race series for statebreds called the Big Apple Triple. The Mike Lee is followed by the New York Derby at Finger Lakes on July 15 and the Albany at Saratoga on Aug. 23.

A $250,000 bonus awaits any horse that sweeps the three races, a feat that has yet to be accomplished.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sunday's fifth race at Churchill Downs looks a great deal like the June 3 Texas Glitter overnight handicap - minus the top two finishers, Yucatan and Atticus Kristy. - the third-, fourth-, and fifth-place finishers from the Texas Glitter, respectively - are entered in the fifth race, an optional claiming race with a purse of $62,000 going five furlongs on turf.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Murray Johnson plans to the follow an identical schedule with $4.4 million earner Perfect Drift that he mapped out for him last year - aiming for the same results, or better.

Johnson said Friday that Perfect Drift came out of his runner-up finish in the June 17 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill in good condition and would be pointed toward the Grade 2 Washington Park Handicap at Arlington Park, a race he won last year. The Washington Park Handicap, a $300,000 race at 1 3/16 miles, will be run July 29.

Striking mutuel clerks were picketing at all seven Woodbine entrances for the second consecutive day on Friday, with the likelihood that they will be out again for the 147th Queen's Plate program on Sunday.

With a favorable weather forecast, Queen's Plate Day ordinarily could be expected to draw up to 20,000 live customers, but the presence of picketers could be a deterrent.

Woodbine will not use replacement workers and will man as many mutuel windows as possible with management and supervisory staff.

AUBURN, Wash. - Diamond Dollars will shoot for her fourth straight win when she takes on nine challengers, including a trio of Canadians, in Sunday's $40,000 Irish Day Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at a mile.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In the fillies division of the CTHS Sales Stakes Saturday, the chances of hitting the triactor by boxing three horses is pretty good. Miss Me Not, Ice Machine, and Excited Miss are standouts.

That's not the case in the 3-year-old colts and geldings division, which goes as the ninth race at Hastings on Sunday. An argument could be made for any of the nine horses entered in the 1 1/16-mile feature, which is restricted to horses that have gone through a Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society sale.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Already making his seventh start of the year, Intore will try to show he'll become a profitable claim in Sunday's seventh race here at Northlands Park. With Desmond Bryan taking the reins, Intore will face seven rivals at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Praying for Cash faces an important test Sunday in the $65,000 Coronado's Quest Stakes for 3-year-olds at Monmouth Park.

is unbeaten in two starts at Monmouth, both sprints. Trainer Kelly Breen would love to see Praying for Cash, a son of Songandaprayer, stretch out successfully in this mile and 70-yard race as a possible prelude to the track's biggest race of the summer: the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 6 at 1 1/8 miles.

ELMONT, N.Y. - When Discreet Cat came down with a cough and a fever, it not only knocked him out of consideration for Belmont's Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds on July 4, it also scrambled a neatly constructed gameplan that could have taken him to a pair of $1 million dollar races in August: the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park and the Travers at Saratoga.

CHICAGO - Kenny McPeek finally got back into the win column last week, and on Sunday at Arlington Park he starts a filly he hopes will take him back into the graded stakes arena.