INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When trainer Jim Cassidy checked Moscow Burning after her game second to Shining Energy in the American Beauty Handicap at Santa Anita on April 8, he was surprised to learn that she had bled.

"It was significant," he said. "She ran through it. That's how tough she is."

A recurrence of that incident in Sunday's $150,000 Fran's Valentine Stakes at Hollywood Park remains a concern for Cassidy, but he is quick to point that she did not bleed from the lungs after working six furlongs at Santa Anita on April 23.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After finishing in the top three in eight consecutive races from July to February, threw in a clunker when she finished fourth in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita last month.

Sent off as the favorite, Proposed was beaten 7 1/4 lengths by winner Healthy Addiction on a wet-fast track.

"I attribute that to the surface and not to her," trainer John Shirreffs said.

Fortunately for Proposed, there is no rain forecast at Hollywood Park on Sunday, the day of the $150,000 B. Thoughtful Handicap.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board on Wednesday rejected trainer Jennifer Pedersen's appeal of a 60-day suspension handed to her by the Aqueduct stewards last year for being in possession of hypodermic equipment and controlled substances.

Further, the board ruled that Pedersen should be given an additional 60 days should she be charged with another violation.

In the winter of 2005, state investigators raided several barns on the Aqueduct and Belmont backstretches. In Pedersen's barn office, investigators found improperly labeled injectibles in a refrigerator.

AUBURN, Wash. - Much of the interest in early-season handicaps comes in seeing how the newly turned 4-year-olds fit with the established stars of the division, and that is very much the case with Sunday's six-furlong Seattle Handicap at Emerald Downs.

The list of 20 nominees for the Seattle contained seven 4-year-olds, including Pepsi-Cola Handicap winner and Emerald Derby runner-up Norm's Nephew. Unfortunately, Norm's Nephew will have to skip the initial stakes for older runners.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The local 3-year-olds will start the long process of sorting out the major contenders for the Grade 3, $250,000-added British Columbia Derby in September when they run in the $50,000 Klondike Stakes at Hastings, the meet's first stakes race for their age group next Saturday.

A total of 19 horses have been nominated to the 6 1/2-furlong Klondike and notably absent is last year's local 2-year-old champion, Regal Request.

CALGARY, Alberta - Stole One launched the Vancouver invasion of Stampede Park last spring when she shipped in from Hastings to capture the M.R. Jenkins Memorial in wire-to-wire fashion under Chris Loseth.

The victory was the first of five stakes scores for shippers from British Columbia at the 2005 Stampede meeting, and Stole One, this time with Quincy Welch in the irons, seeks to defend her title in Sunday's renewal of the $50,000 M.R. Jenkins at six furlongs.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Brownie Points is one of the most accomplished 3-year-old fillies at Lone Star Park, and as a stakes winner on dirt and turf there are two major races here for which she is being considered. She also has options at Prairie Meadows.

Brownie Points was third last out in the Grade 2, $250,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park. She also won the $50,000 Martha Washington at that track in February, and last fall as a 2-year-old won the $40,000 Cimarron on turf at Remington Park.

CHICAGO - Twelve horses were entered for the Sunday feature at the National Jockey Club meet, and the connections of several were paying as much attention to the weather forecast as the condition book.

"Rain likely," was the National Weather Service forecast for Saturday night and Sunday in Chicago. So, Sunday's ninth race could be transformed from a third-level allowance with a $35,000 claiming option at 1 1/16 miles on turf to the same kind of race at the same distance but on the main track.

Either way, this is a tough one.

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Dean Pederson has two threats for Sunday's $40,000-added Walnut Creek overnight stakes on the Golden Gate Fields turf. Pederson sends out Kilgowan, a former El Camino Real Derby winner, and Now Victory, who has won two straight but has not raced since Jan. 22 because of the lack of turf racing.

There are four other horses in the 1 3/8-mile Walnut Creek: Balustrade, who won the 1 7/8-mile Hasta La Vista at Turf Paradise last year; Sharp Writer, coming off a win in a one-mile allowance race; comebacking Azarouak, a winner at the distance; and Apollo King.

It has been a recurring theme in many of the stakes at Turf Paradise this meet - put up the money and the raiders from Southern California will try to steal it away. The move has worked many times, and it may again Sunday, when Tedo invades for the $40,000 Wildcat Handicap, a 1 3/8-mile turf event that has lured a field of 13.