Ever since Suffolk Downs closed for two years in 1989, New England racing has steadily seen some of its most successful trainers head elsewhere for more money. It's refreshing when the prodigal sons and daughters return home with stakes horses, as Mike Gorham and Lori Lockhart will do in Saturday's $40,000 Amelia Peabody Stakes.

The Peabody is a race for Massachusetts-bred 2-year-old fillies at six furlongs. It was one of four races added to the stakes calendar here at the end of the season. In recent years it has attracted some of the best statebred runners.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - By the time the season ends, Justin Stein will have posted a record number of wins by an apprentice rider in a single season at Hastings - a record that will likely stand for a long time. He has 129 wins at the meet, and last weekend blew past Dave Wilson's old record of 123 wins, set in 1994.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Julia Carey, who recently celebrated her 20th anniversary as an employee in Woodbine's mutuels department, will be looking to punch out her biggest ticket ever here on Saturday afternoon.

But the cashing would come in Carey's other role, as a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, when she sends out Friendly Theresa for the $135,375 Ontario Fashion Handicap.

Carey, 52, added training to her resume about eight years ago, generally racing just a horse or two before adding a few more over the past couple of seasons.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Stevie Wonderboy, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the top candidate for the Eclipse Award as the champion 2-year-old, will not start again this year, trainer Doug O'Neill said on Wednesday.

Owned by Merv Griffin, Stevie Wonderboy will remain in light training in coming months and be pointed for the Kentucky Derby preps early next year. O'Neill envisions Stevie Wonderboy having "two or three" starts before the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A.P. Warrior was briefly considered for last weekend's Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Belmont Park until owner Stan Fulton and trainer Eoin Harty decided to remain in California and point the colt for the Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 17.

To get to the Grade 1 Futurity, Harty wanted a prep race. He has found an appropriate spot in a $45,000 allowance race over a mile at Santa Anita on Friday. A.P. Warrior will be favored to beat seven rivals.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - European-based 3-year-old fillies have enjoyed great success recently when shipping to New York for the Long Island Handicap. Trainer Graham Motion hopes that trend continues for at least one more year.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The complexion of fall racing in Southern California remained undecided Wednesday while officials from Hollywood Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California negotiated a revised purse agreement void of turf races at Hollywood.

Hollywood Park on Tuesday announced the cancellation of all turf racing for the fall meet that begins Wednesday and runs through Dec. 19, citing the unsatisfactory condition of the new grass course that was installed this summer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Phil Serpe had two reasons to be happy about scratching Pleasant Laughter out of Wednesday's Miss Oceana Stakes in favor of Friday's featured entry-level allowance race at Aqueduct.

First, Friday's $46,000 race at one mile looks like an easier spot. Second, Play Ballado, who soundly defeated Pleasant Laughter by 6 1/4 lengths when they met at this condition level on Oct. 10, was an easy winner of Wednesday's Miss Oceana.

"I think it's a better spot for her to run," Serpe said Wednesday afternoon.

The damage inflicted by Hurricane Rita on Delta Downs in Vinton, La., in late September has forced the track to cancel the Grade 3, $1 million Delta Jackpot on Dec. 2. The 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds, given a grade for its fourth running this year, was to be the first graded Thoroughbred stakes in the 30-year history of Delta.

The track has also canceled the $250,000 Princess for 2-year-old fillies. The cancellations were announced Wednesday by Delta officials, who said they plan to bring the Jackpot back next year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the horse racing desert cryptically known as Short Fields Sands, the fall meet at Churchill Downs is providing a welcome oasis. On the overnight sheet for a 10-race Friday card at Churchill, there are 125 entries, a tonic indeed for horseplayers thirsting for sizable fields.