CHICAGO - A handicapper could look at the eighth race on Thursday at Hawthorne as a battle between assumption and accomplishment. It is assumed that horses consistently racing at higher class levels will prove superior when dropping to face cheaper company. But what if the cheaper company has actually accomplished far more than the supposedly superior animals?

MIAMI - There is still some pretty good racing left before the Tropical at Calder meet ends on Jan. 2, although the best race of them all may be the battle for leading trainer honors.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Eleanor Rose can take advantage of a Bay Meadows track that is playing well to speed when she runs in the Thursday feature, a $62,500 optional claimer for fillies and mares going one mile.

The strong Thursday card also includes a $40,000 claimer, a straight maiden event, and a $40,000 starter allowance for 3-year-olds.

Eleanor Rose faces five runners, including Eclipse Winner, to whom she has lost twice. But with the help of a speed-friendly track, Eleanor Rose could turn the tables in this spot.

Trainer Nick Hines has received a stay of a 30-day suspension and $2,500 fine that he received on Dec. 19 after one of his starters at Del Mar in August 2004 tested positive for the drugs meprobamate and hydroxycarisoprodol, metabolites of the banned muscle relaxant carisoprodol.

Hines's suspension was scheduled to run from Thursday through Jan. 27, but the stay allows Hines to continue operating his stable until an appeal is conducted. The appeal process would take several months.

ARCADIA, Calif. - David Cohen and Proud Tower Too arrived in the winner's circle after Monday's Grade 1, $250,000 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita well prepared for an important photo.

Cohen's silks, boots, and breeches were so clean that he looked like a jockey going to post instead of one coming back from a win.

What better way to celebrate a Grade 1 win than to have a sharp look in the winner's circle? "I think the color man owes me a few dollars. He won't have to clean these," Cohen said, tugging at his green and white silks.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Following a nine-day holiday break, racing resumes at Aqueduct Wednesday with a juicy pick-six carryover of $187,730 and a competitive renewal of the $75,000 Alex M. Robb Handicap for New York-breds.

Though favorites have been winning at a 32 percent clip since the inner track opened on Nov. 30, there has been a pick-six carryover after eight of the first 14 cards. The carryover entering Wednesday's card is the largest of the winter.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The focus of day two at Santa Anita could be on Bai and Bai and Sierra Sweetie, who finished first and second in last month's California Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting. But , who rallied sharply to defeat maidens at Hollywood Park on Nov. 20, has the look of a rapidly improving filly who should appreciate the seven furlongs of the $125,000 California Breeders' Champion Stakes, the day's seventh race.

The featured ninth race on Wednesday is a high-level allowance for fillies and mares at about one mile on turf.

Maybe.

Close followers of the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs have begun making dirt backup picks in races originally scheduled for the grass. The last three racing weeks have brought a rash of rain-offs, with turf racing on six of the last 11 days washed away. This week's forecast calls for only a slight chance of storms Tuesday night, but the way things have been going, slight may be enough.

ARCADIA, Calif. - David Cohen had a Happy Hanukkah on Monday at Santa Anita.

The young rider got his first victory in a Grade 1 race by guiding longshot Proud Tower Too to a front-running victory over favored Attila's Storm in the Grade 1, $250,000 for 3-year-olds on the opening-day program at Santa Anita.

Before a crowd estimated by track officials at 34,000, Proud Tower Too and Attila's Storm raced one-two for the entire seven furlongs, with Proud Tower Too ($42.20) prevailing by one length. Attila's Storm finished 3 3/4 lengths in front of third-place Thor's Echo.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Eight stakes-quality fillies and mares compete in Wednesday's Bay Meadows feature, a $62,500 optional claimer at six furlongs.

Trainer Jeff Bonde will saddle , the probable favorite.

Double D Appeal, 3, is one of two stakes winners in the field. She won the Nursery Stakes at Hollywood Park as a 2-year-old and did not race again for 18 months. In her comeback race, she finished third in strong field in the Angel Island at Golden Gate Fields earlier this month.