BALTIMORE - Invasor was a champion in Uruguay, but what he was capable of doing in North America was a mystery even to his trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin.

Mystery solved.

Making his North American debut, Invasor rallied inside of odds-on favorite Wanderin Boy in deep stretch and drew clear to a 1 1/4-length victory in Friday's Grade 1, $500,000 . Wanderin Boy held second, 3 3/4 lengths over West Virginia.

Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, was scratched to run in Saturday's William Donald Schaefer Handicap.

BALTIMORE - Regal Engagement could not get past Smart N Pretty in the stretch run of the Grade 2, $250,000 on Friday at Pimlico Race Course, but she did in the stewards' stand.

After a 10-minute review of the tapes, Pimlico's stewards ruled that Smart N Pretty had interfered with Regal Engagement in the final sixteenth, and they reversed the order of finish. The result was met with predictable, but perhaps not inappropriate, reactions from those involved.

There are nine 3-year-old fillies of varying degrees of promise scheduled to race on Sunday at Monmouth Park, but not in the Just Smashing Stakes, which had to be scrapped for lack of interest when entries were taken on Friday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With his foot propped up on a chair and a walker in the doorway, trainer Vladimir Cerin was not going very far from his stable office on Friday morning at Hollywood Park. This was not a bad thing.

Nearly two weeks after undergoing knee replacement surgery, Cerin was having his first full morning back on the job and was happy to be there. He had been away longer than expected because of complications from surgery.

"I was in the hospital for nine days," he said. "It should have been four."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Even in February, when the improving 3-year-old New Joysey Jeff looked like a Kentucky Derby prospect, trainer Mark Glatt suspected the colt's future would be on grass.

But after New Joysey Jeff won a turf sprint first time out, Glatt switched him to dirt. Can you blame him? Everyone gets Derby fever.

"We wanted to test how far we could go; his Beyer Speed Figures were climbing pretty rapidly," Glatt said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Narrow defeats, or "tough beats" as racetrackers call them, don't come any tougher than the one Very Vegas experienced in the May 4 Mamzelle Stakes. Sent to the front under jockey Jesus Castanon, she led for nearly every jump, until getting caught by Unbridled Sidney in the final stride.

A dejected Castanon, talking to reporters after the race, said the nose loss hurt.

"Honestly, when I got to 70 yards, I thought I was going to hang on," he said.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Buddy Gil, the 2003 Santa Anita Derby winner who has been unraced for over 1 1/2 years, on Thursday breezed a half-mile in 50 seconds over a fast track at Churchill Downs, his third breeze since being sidelined with a recurring knee injury in the fall of 2004.

Formerly based in California, Buddy Gil has called Kentucky his home this spring. That is not the only thing new - Bill Mott now trains Buddy Gil, a 6-year-old gelding and a winner of 6 of 18 starts and $804,067. His previous trainer was Jeff Mullins.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Thursday was one of those days for the Arlington Park racing office: a long, hard slog to put together Sunday's nine-race card. The entry box closed late, and even after several hours of hustling, just 66 horses were entered, barely more than seven per race. The featured sixth, a second-level allowance at one mile on dirt, did not escape the general shortfall, either. A total of seven went into the race, including a coupled entry from trainer Wayne Catalano, who figures to scratch either Omaggio or Timbucslew.

MIAMI - Trainer Marty Wolfson couldn't have found a softer spot to bring his graded-stakes-placed mare Prospective Saint back to the races off a 6 1/2-month vacation than Sunday's $45,000 Kimscountrydiamond Stakes.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Nob Hill Deelite shortens up to a sprint for Sunday's $50,000 Acadia at Louisiana Downs - meaning his rivals had better be prepared to fend off a powerful closing kick.

A six-furlong race for Louisiana-bred 3-year-olds, the Acadia was originally scheduled to be run Saturday but was canceled because of a lack of entries. A field of five will meet Sunday, including stakes winners Here Tiger and Night Doc.