MIAMI - With four of the next six stakes races at Calder scheduled for the turf, it was no surprise the local grass course was a busy place when it opened for training Monday morning.

A dozen horses worked around the dogs Monday, including five entered for this Saturday's co-featured Cherokee Frolic and Kris S. stakes, a pair of 2-year-old events carded on the grass. The meet's two most important stakes, the Grade 2 W.L. McKnight and Grade 2 La Prevoyante, will be run over the turf the following weekend.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It's still far from a done deal, but Polytrack could be coming to Woodbine as soon as next summer.

"We're looking seriously at Polytrack," said Chris Evans, Woodbine's vice president of Thoroughbred racing, acknowledging that continuing problems with the main track here are expediting the study.

"We're researching the practicality of installing it, how to do it while we continue racing, and what the costs will be," he said.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Trainer Benny Feliciano appears to have an excellent chance of extending his winning streak to nine races when he sends out El Keko in Wednesday's fifth race at Thistledown, a two-mile starter allowance marathon. is the 7-5 morning line favorite in the seven-horse field.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Sir Greeley has put forth a number of performances that are good enough to win stakes. Problem is, he hasn't put out one of those efforts in a stakes race.

Wednesday, Sir Greeley gets another opportunity to score his first stakes victory when he meets five rivals in the $65,000 Fly So Free, an overnight stakes for 3-year-olds that have never won an open-company stakes. The Fly So Free, run at six furlongs, shares billing on a nine-race card that also includes the $65,000 Coyote Lakes, run at 1 5/8 miles.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The Gallant Fox Handicap, run at 1 5/8 miles at the end of the month, is this circuit's version of the New York City Marathon. To find out who has the stamina to go that far, Aqueduct will first run the $65,000 Coyote Lakes Handicap on Wednesday, also run at 1 5/8 miles.

Jockey Terry Thompson escaped serious injury in a one-horse spill in the first race at the Fair Grounds meet at Louisiana Downs on Sunday. He is scheduled to resume riding Thursday, said his agent, Coleman Lloyd.

Thompson was thrown when his mount, Fast Baby, broke down and fell while on the lead in the final furlong. Thompson was taken to Willis Knighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La., and X-rays were negative for broken bones, said Lloyd.

- additional reporting by Jeff Taylor

STICKNEY, Ill. - Trainer Roy Houghton wears his cowboy hat pulled low. He has been known to bicycle on a rickety 10-speed from his barn to the Arlington racetrack to watch his horses train. Around friends, he can be voluble. Most of the time, however, Houghton's communications take the less-is-more approach.

For instance, Houghton was asked what he thought of his Hawthorne meet so far. "Well, it's been okay, I guess," he said.

ALBANY, Calif. - Neither Candi Capri nor Just a Tizzy has done much wrong in their brief careers.

Both lost their debuts to a pair of eventual stakes winners. Since then, Candi Capri has won two starts and Just a Tizzy has won her lone start. Something will have to give when the pair meet four other rivals in Wednesday's Golden Gate Fields feature, a $25,000 optional claimer for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Morado will be the only runner to compete without a selling price in Wednesday's Woodbine headliner, a $66,800 allowance optional claimer at seven furlongs. And that certainly counts for something.

Morado has posted three wins in nine outings this year. He was claimed from his current connections, Jim Dandy Stable and trainer Sid Attard, when he won his maiden comfortably for $40,000 in early August, but they promptly took him back from a $62,500 victory Aug. 20.

Morado captured a seven-furlong preliminary allowance, which was taken off the grass,

ALBANY, Calif. - The top three finishers in Saturday's $59,050 Angel Island Stakes at Golden Gate Fields all came out of the race in good shape and figure to be tough down the line.