ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has bigger plans for Heavenly Humor than Sunday's $50,000-added Albany Handicap at Golden Gate Fields, a six-furlong stakes race for fillies and mares. A 4-year-old, Heavenly Humor is by Distorted Humor, who is the sire of dual Classic winner Funny Cide and three Breeders' Cup prospects this year: Original Spin (Juvenile Fillies), Fourty Niners Son (Turf), and Flower Alley (Classic).

"If we could get her a graded placing or win, she'll become a very valuable broodmare prospect," Hollendorfer said. "That's in our future plans."

Swing the Belle will return to her favorite track on Sunday when she heads a field of eight in the Portland Meadows feature, a six-furlong test for fillies and mares eligible to be claimed for $8,000.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The $75,000 Ascot Graduation, which is the final stakes race at Hastings this year, appears to be a wide-open event. What makes the 1 1/16-mile feature so difficult to handicap is that none of the nine 2-year-old colts and geldings who have been entered has ever gone farther than 6 1/2 furlongs.

CHICAGO - This past summer, Roman Chapa came to ride regularly in Chicago for the first time. Everything worked out pretty well - except when the man who brought him here almost died.

Chapa's agent, Bobby Kelly, was instrumental in bringing Chapa - a regular in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas - to Arlington in mid-meet. But two Fridays ago at Hawthorne, Kelly, middle-aged and energetic, suffered a major heart attack early in the afternoon. Rushed to the hospital, he had emergency surgery, pulled through, and was released back into regular life late this past Thursday morning.

ANDERSON, Ind. - Mr. Mink will defend his title against 11 older Indiana-breds in Sunday's $40,000 Brickyard Stakes at six furlongs.

Mr. Mink won this race a year ago under hand urging and in fast time, and he has been in solid form again this year with a mark of 4-2-0 from 6 starts, all for trainer Mike Nance. His first trip over the Hoosier oval this year was a second against $25,000 optional claiming company on Sept. 16.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Following an easy allowance victory by Asi Siempre at Keeneland on Oct. 7, trainer Patrick Biancone talked about starting Asi Siempre in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine. He later changed his mind, opting for more conservative placement in Friday's Grade 3, $125,000 Valley View Stakes at Keeneland.

Consider it a wise move. Asi Siempre ($2.80) scored her first graded stakes victory in the race, holding on to defeat the fast-closing Dynamite Lass by a nose in front of a crowd of 11,317.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Canadian racetracks will be betting directly into the host pools at Belmont Park beginning Wednesday.

The development means that Canadian horseplayers will be participating in the worldwide pool for Saturday's Breeders' Cup, rather than Woodbine hosting a separate Canadian pool.

Steve Mitchell, senior vice president and chief financial officer for the Woodbine Entertainment Group, had led negotiations with New York regulators to expedite a commingling agreement and got the green light Friday morning.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Allan Jack should know a good horse when he sees one. After all, he trained two of the best horses that ever ran at Hastings, Strawberry Morn and Mike K.

Jack thinks that Regal Request, while still a long way from being considered in the same league as those two, is a good one. Regal Request should be one of the favorites in the $75,000 Ascot Graduation Stakes at Hastings Sunday.

"He's really starting to click in," said Jack. "I really liked the way he ran in his last race."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The glory years of the Grade 1 came in the 1970's, when it was won by the likes Secretariat, Dahlia, and Exceller.

The International went through a period when it failed to attract any of the world's top grass horses, but that era ended last year, when Sulamani won impressively. Its resurgence continues Sunday at Woodbine, when a superior field, including the once-beaten European sensation Electrocutionist, will run for a record purse of $2 million.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Punctilious and Classic Stamp finished a neck apart when they were second and third in last year's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares here at Woodbine.

On Sunday, the two will meet again in the E.P. Taylor, which has had its purse boosted by $250,000 and will be worth a cool $1 million this time around.

While Punctilious is the probable favorite and Classic Stamp should be solidly supported, there are many possibilities in the highly competitive field of 12.