Calder Race Course has canceled live racing at least through Friday after suffering extensive damage from Hurricane Wilma on Monday. Calder is located on the border of Dade and Broward Counties, which were among the areas hardest hit when Wilma passed across south Florida early Monday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Unification, who is based at Saratoga with trainer Eoin Harty, is slated to return to Woodbine for next Sunday's Coronation Futurity.

That news may be a surprise to those who took the trouble to consult the list of Canadian-bred 2-year-olds eligible for the $250,000 Coronation Futurity, which was released by the track on Sept. 29.

Unification's name was not on list, but quietly, last Friday, a second list surfaced with Unification's name included.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Ruler's Court and Smokescreen were both being pointed to stakes races here on Saturday's Breeders' Cup undercard. Instead, the connections of both horses found what they hope is an easier spot in Wednesday's feature race at Belmont Park.

Ruler's Court, who was nominated to the $250,000 Sport Page, and Smokescreen, nominated to the $250,000 Discovery, will meet each other in a $50,000 third-level allowance race at one mile.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The distance isn't ideal, but trainer Neil Howard will take what he can get. Howard wanted a well-timed prep race for his Grade 1 winner America Alive leading into the Nov. 20 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs, so he will gladly run America Alive in a one-mile turf race that serves as the Wednesday feature at Keeneland.

"Just getting an allowance race under our belt outweighs any considerations about distance," said Howard.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Masterpiece towers over five rivals Wednesday at Santa Anita, where he makes his third start in North America in a mile turf race that is the seventh-race feature.

A Group 1 winner in Argentina, Masterpiece may start at even-money or less in the second-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming option. Trained by Pete Eurton, Masterpiece established his North American class with two sharp efforts this summer at Del Mar, either of which would be good enough to win in this spot.

Fair Grounds in New Orleans will reopen five of its offtrack betting locations on Wednesday, two months after Hurricane Katrina inflicted significant damage on New Orleans, surrounding areas in southeastern Louisiana, and much of the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Alabama.

The openings afford the area the simulcast of Saturday's Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Belmont Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sid Attard, Woodbine's leading trainer in number of wins this meet, has been deadly first time off the claim since the beginning of 2004, winning at a 43 percent clip, with a profitable return on investment. Some of his better claims have gone on to win allowance or optional-claiming races, notably Sky Diamond.

Attard unveils his latest claim, Luke in My Pocket, in Wednesday's seventh race at Woodbine, a $32,000 claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Patrick Valenzuela will resume riding Wednesday at Santa Anita after missing one week and being fined $1,000 for failing to inform track stewards that he could not ride last Wednesday because of a sore foot.

Under the terms of his conditional license, Valenzuela could have faced a suspension for not contacting the stewards and informing them of his absence. Valenzuela's agent, Ron Ebanks, took responsibility for the lack of communication, calling the incident "a misunderstanding."

ALBANY, Calif. - The first two races at Golden Gate Fields opening day Wednesday were both pretty good stories.

A Lil' Alimony, an aptly named filly owned by the First Wives' Club - a group comprising five divorced women who got together to buy a horse - won the meet opener just as she had done last year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - When the two outside horses in a 12-horse field were scratched at post time of the sixth race Saturday at Keeneland, a logical assumption might have been that someone forgot that only 10 horses should be allowed to start in the 1 1/2-mile turf race.