CALGARY, Alberta - Miss Marvic arrived here last spring as an unheralded 4-year-old, but quickly reeled off four consecutive victories in a steady climb up the claiming ladder. On Saturday, Miss Marvic looks like the one to beat as she faces six rivals in the optional $40,000 claiming feature at four furlongs at Stampede Park.

Under Gary Stein, who rides Saturday, Miss Marvic started her streak here by besting 4-year-old fillies twice for a $15,000 tag. She then defeated fillies and mares for a $22,000 tag and finally captured an optional claimer to complete her run.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Sometimes the best angle is the simplest: Miss Elsie loves Oaklawn Park. A winner of 5 of 7 starts here during her 12-race career, she is the one to beat Saturday in the $50,000 Carousel Stakes.

The six-furlong race is for fillies and mares, and the chief threat is Platinum Princess, whose trainer, Steve Asmussen, is shooting for his third straight victory in the Carousel.

CHICAGO - Proven Cat was supposedly using a sprint race on March 7 at the National Jockey Club meet as a stepping-stone to a two-turn race a few weeks later, or so her trainer, Mark Cristel, said a couple of days before the race. But Proven Cat is so good at Hawthorne that she needs neither a prep nor any certain distance to be effective.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The first two days of Aqueduct's main track meet have produced a bevy of longshots that have created a two-day pick-six carryover of $113,242 entering Friday's card.

On Wednesday, when Tenthirteen ($63.50) won the seventh race that ensured a carryover of $29,842 heading into Thursday's card. On Thursday, there were four double-digit winners in the pick-six sequence including Time to Grow Up ($57).

There was one live ticket heading into Thursday's finale, but Feelin' the Blues was never involved and finished eighth.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Owner and trainer Dave Runyon considers Chancy Chancy to be the best claim he has ever made. Runyon took Chancy Chancy for $6,250 when she was a 3-year-old in November 2003, and she has since compiled more than $50,000 in earnings while winning 9 of 27 starts, including three stakes, a trio of invitational handicaps, and two allowance races.

Runyon may have to revise his opinion, however, if Royal Snowflight can win Saturday's 1 1/16-mile Oregon Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at Portland Meadows.

For Bob Baffert, it has been a case of close but no cigar. A trainer well known for winning derbies of all kinds, Baffert has yet to win the WinStar Derby at Sunland Park. He has a good chance to change that on Saturday when he sends out likely favorite Wanna Runner and his uncoupled stablemate, the very capable Sky Diving, in the $600,000 , a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.

The marquee event of the meet, the WinStar Derby has lured a field of nine. The derby goes as the seventh race on a 12-race card, which features three other stakes.

Well Hidden is unbeaten in three starts, but it's going to take some hard work if she's to make it 4 for 4 on Saturday in the $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The Oaks, at 1 1/16 miles for 3-year-old fillies, goes as the sixth race on a 12-race card, which includes three other stakes, led by the $600,000 WinStar Derby.

Most of the attention on 3-year-olds this time of year is focused on route racing and the first Saturday in May. So it is refreshing to get a look at a talented group of 3-year-old sprinters in Saturday night's $75,000 Inaugural Stakes at Evangeline Downs. The six-furlong feature race is the young meeting's first of 17 stakes, each worth at least $75,000.

A solid field of 13 Ohio-bred fillies will contest the first stakes race of the year in Ohio in Saturday's $50,000 Royal North Stakes at Beulah Park.

Multiple stakes winner Lillians Choice returns from a six-month layoff for trainer Bret Calhoun in the six-furlong Royal North.

Lillians Choice captured both the Tah Dah at River Downs and the Miss Ohio at Thistledown last summer, and is just a neck short of being undefeated in her four-race career.

Lissa's Star will return to racing around one turn and the site of his most impressive victory when he takes on the Danny Pish-trained entry of Rain on Monday and Guacamole in the $40,000 Citgo at Sam Houston.

The seven-furlong race is restricted to 3-year-olds bred in Texas.

Lissa's Star was an explosive five-length winner of an open company allowance two starts ago at Sam Houston. In his most recent start, he rallied for fifth in the $125,000 Jim's Orbit division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at one mile on Feb. 18.