Los Alamitos newcomers Cruzin for Lyndsie and Strawkins bring winning streaks into Monday's $25,000 Holiday Handicap, the final 2-year-old stakes of the year at Los Alamitos and opening night of the 2005-06 season.

After Monday, the track races on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday nights before resuming its normal Thursday-through-Sunday night schedule nest week.

Cruzin for Lyndsie is making his Los Alamitos debut after winning four straight races, including Grade 3 wins in the Diamond Classic Futurity at Wyoming Downs and the AQRA Turf Paradise Futurity.

PHOENIX - Hi It's Mike made himself quite an introduction to the Turf Paradise racing scene when he invaded from Southern California on Dec. 6 to romp in a maiden race. That performance is likely to make him the favorite in Monday's $40,000 Arizona Juvenile at Turf Paradise.

The 6 1/2-furlong race lured a field of nine, including top Arizona-bred 2-year-olds Levelled and Hey Slick.

Cobra Lady, the fastest female sprinter on the grounds this season at Mountaineer Race Track, will seek to repel a pair of Kentucky-based challengers and a locally based filly making a rare try in a race shorter than one mile in Tuesday night's $75,000 New Year's Eve Stakes.

The six-furlong sprint drew 12 fillies and mares, including two coupled entries, and a pair of also-eligibles.

A 5-year-old trained by J. Michael Baird, Cobra Lady has won 6 of 10 starts this year, including three stakes. Ten of her 15 career victories have come over Mountaineer's main track.

Lone Star Park has increased the purse of the Lone Star Park Handicap from $300,000 to $400,000 in one of two major improvements to the track's 37-race stakes schedule, which was announced Friday. In the other change, the $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup will become the track's fifth graded race when it is run as a Grade 3 in 2006.

Lone Star will race 66 dates next year, from April 13 to July 23. Purses for the meet are expected to be similar to last year, when they averaged more than $210,000 a day, said Jeff Greco, general manager of Lone Star.

In a race filled with speed, Sandia's Flicka set a pressured pace and still prevailed, winning the $50,000 at Sunland Park on Thursday by a length over Red Lifesaver. It was another three-quarters of a length back in third to Culpeper Moon.

Sandia's Flicka ($27.60) broke on top in the 5 1/2-furlong race for fillies and mares, and set fractions of 22.16 seconds for the opening quarter and 45.46 for the half-mile while under pressure from Coronado Rose. She went on to cover the distance over a fast track in 1:03.47.

Private Gift comes off the best race of her career and on Saturday can win her first stakes in the $75,000 Truly Bound Breeders' Cup Handicap at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs.

There are eight fillies and mares in the 1 1/16-mile race, including Culinary, winner of the off-the-turf $75,000 Furl Sail last Saturday; Grade 2 winner La Reason; and Ballroom Deputy, a Grade 3 winner last out at Woodbine who is highweighted at 119 pounds.

MIAMI - Somebody will be getting an early Christmas present on Saturday after competing in the $50,000 Georgia Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association Debutante Stakes at Calder.

A 50-horse barn at Turfway Park was placed under quarantine Wednesday after a horse stabled there was suspected of having contracted the equine herpes virus, a contagious disease that causes upper respiratory problems and loss of coordination.

While the quarantine is in effect, horses from Barn 26 are prohibited from being among the general horse population - meaning they cannot be shipped, raced, or trained. Several horses stabled in Barn 26 were scratched Wednesday evening at Turfway as a result of the quarantine, and more scratches were expected Thursday and Friday.

Mountaineer Race Track has increased its catastrophic insurance coverage for jockeys riding there from $100,000 to $1 million in a new one-year policy.

Mountaineer was the site of a July 2004 spill that left jockey Gary Birzer paralyzed from the chest down. Birzer has said that he has since incurred more than $500,000 in medical bills he is unable to pay.

MIAMI - There are many reasons why Scott Lake's name is regularly listed at or near the top of the national trainer rankings for races won each season, not the least of which is his ability to read a condition book and place horses where they have the best chance to win.