ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ambitious Cat, last year's champion turf female in Canada, launches her 2006 Woodbine campaign Saturday in the Grade 2, $300,000 Nassau Stakes.

A Storm Cat mare, Ambitious Cat was a solid allowance performer before the 2005 Nassau, in which she finished second to favored American invader Que Puntual. Ambitious Cat went on to be second in the Grade 2 Canadian Handicap, and the highlight of her campaign was a half-length loss to Honey Ryder and Latice in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes on Oct. 23.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - In terms of the total number of horses entered, Saturday's card at Hastings has to be considered one of the best seen here in recent years. All nine of the races have at least 10 horses. Although there are no stakes races, the quality of racing is decent, and either the seventh or eighth race would serve as an excellent feature.

CALGARY, Alberta - Ledbury, an old pro with a 14-for-47 lifetime mark, steps up another notch to the $30,000 claiming plateau in search of his third consecutive victory here at Stampede Park on Saturday. Ledbury, a 9-year-old gelding, faces just five rivals in the sixth race on the seven-race card.

AUBURN, Wash. - Star Amethyst and Carrie's a Jewel, the one-two finishers in a $32,000 optional claiming affair at six furlongs on May 13, will be rematched in Saturday's feature at Emerald Downs. The feature is a $40,000 optional claiming test at 6 1/2 furlongs that has drawn a field of five fillies and mares.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Officials of the New York Racing Association met with horsemen on Thursday to trumpet the many changes that have led to an increase in business this year, but it is clear there is still discord between management and horsemen.

At least that was the sentiment of some of the horsemen who attended a 70-minute meeting at Belmont Park that touched on a wide range of issues.

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.