CHICAGO - Arlington's Mid-America Triple, three summer stakes for 3-year-old grass horses, had an identity crisis even before Colonial Downs introduced one then another $1 million race in the same division. With $2 million in prize money up for grabs this year in Virginia, the Mid-America Triple, until the Secretariat Stakes, has become an also-ran, one reason why no grass horses of scintillating promise were entered in Saturday's $40,000 Awad Stakes, Arlington's prep for the Arlington Classic, the first leg of the summer series.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The challenges will get tougher for Joey P. after a victory over New Jersey-breds in his season debut.

Joey P. came out of his John J. Reilly Handicap victory on May 27 in good shape, according to trainer Ben Perkins, Jr. Joey P. carried a career-high 123 pounds to a hard-fought half-length victory over Quiet Desperation.

It wasn't the most impressive win of the 4-year-old's career. Joey P. earned an 84 Beyer Speed Figure, well below the standard established last year when he posted four wins with Beyers ranging from 108 to 100.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Sunday's $125,000 Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint drew five entrants. Earlier in the week, only two runners were considered definite for the six-furlong race, Carthage and Trickey Trevor. They entered, along with Bonfante, Areyoutalkintome, and Peak a Bootrando.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - If Halo Steven, who is trained by Terry Jordan, runs a good race in the 1 1/16-mile Jim Coleman Province Stakes at Hastings on Sunday, he will likely join his stablemate, My Guy, in the $125,000 Alberta Derby at Stampede Park on June 17. My Guy has won the last two stakes races for 3-year-olds in Alberta, and Jordan said he thinks that Halo Steven is just as good as My Guy - possibly better. Both horses are owned by Marta Racing Ventures, and if Jordan is correct, they will form a formidable entry.

The best mare in New England is in action in a stakes race Saturday at Suffolk Downs. It's rare to say that about a Massachusetts-bred, but Ask Queenie has the credentials to back it up in the $40,000 Isadorable Stakes for statebred fillies and mares.

There has been a steady stream of top-notch horses bred in Massachusetts that dominated the statebred stakes program, but few ever took their game into open races with as much success as Ask Queenie has over the last two seasons for owner Laurine Barriera and her mother, trainer Lori Lockhart.

MIAMI - Cervelo's chances of successfully defending his title in Saturday's $45,000 Blazing Sword Stakes at Calder may hinge on the weather.

Early in the week, when entries were taken for Saturday's $100,000 John Rooney Memorial at Delaware Park, trainer Graham Motion was confident the quarter crack that prevented five-time graded-stakes winner Film Maker from racing on Memorial Day would be healed.

By Wednesday, however, Motion had reconsidered. Although the injury is minor and something he has dealt with before with the mare, Motion realized it would be better to give the 6-year-old Film Maker a bit more time before she makes her first start of 2006.

Christmas Stocking, a stakes winner on turf in Florida, and Somethinaboutbetty, a two-time stakes winner on dirt, square off in the $75,000 Pearl Necklace at Pimlico.

The 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old Maryland-bred fillies drew a field of 10.

most impressive performance came when she rallied from sixth to capture the $100,000 Cherokee Frolic at Calder in early December. She has been freshened since finishing third, beaten a head, in another turf stakes, the Bedanken, at Louisiana Downs in mid-January.

Trainer Scott Lake will try to take his fifth straight stakes at Charles Town when he runs the razor-sharp Remarqable Tale in the $50,000 Turn Capp at seven furlongs. Lake has won all four stakes run at the Charles Town meet.

A 5-year-old mare claimed for $15,000 out of a nonwinners-of-two race at Aqueduct in March, Remarqable Tale has since reeled off three consecutive wins, including back-to-back scores at Charles Town by a combined 11 3/4 lengths.

The horse to beat, however, may be the 7-year-old Miss Hamma. a two-time stakes winner at Charles Town last season.

All systems appear to be go for the crack sprinter Gold Storm's return to action following a year away in Saturday night's $75,000 Need for Speed at Evangeline Downs. The five-furlong race drew a field of six, including Final Draft, who was also entered in Saturday afternoon's $50,000 Kings Court Stakes at Louisiana Downs.