ARCADIA, Calif. - A policy of adding lead to the equipment carried by some jockeys in an effort to equalize the weight of safety equipment being carried during races at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meet was discontinued after three days on Thursday, pending further study, racing officials said.

From Saturday through Wednesday, jockeys who carried less than five pounds of safety equipment - primarily helmet, safety vest, goggles, and overgirth - had weight added to their equipment to reach five pounds. Safety equipment is not counted in the weight jockeys carry.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Tim Ritchey is facing a busy weekend with horses running Saturday in stakes at Belmont Park, Laurel, Keeneland, Delaware Park, Philadelphia Park, and The Meadowlands Racetrack.

"It will be six stakes in six states in one day," Ritchey said.

The $60,000 Ready Jet Go Stakes under the Big M lights will be the final leg of Ritchey's marathon day. He entered A Vision in Gray in the six-furlong race for fillies and mares.

Keeneland will once again decline to send its signal to a handful of rebate shops in the Caribbean and in various locations in the United States, Keeneland president Nick Nicholson said Thursday.

The rebate shops include Capital Sports and Darwin All Sports in Australia; Racing and Gaming Services in St. Kitts; Euro Off Track on the Isle of Man; Elite Turf Club and Holiday Beach in Curacao; Excelsior Hotel and Casino in Aruba; Lien Games in South Dakota; Coeur d'Alene Casino on a Native American reservation in Idaho; and a site run by the Tonkawa Indian tribe in Oklahoma.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Another big payday appears to await Kaylee's Magic as she heads a field of seven in Saturday's $50,000 Freedom of the City for 2-year-old fillies at a mile here at Northlands Park.

Kaylee's Magic has won three of the four stakes offered for her class this year here, and Tartan Star, the only filly who defeated her, is through for the season. In the Sale Stakes, Kaylee's Magic took a two-length lead into the stretch but was unable to stave off Tartan Star's charge by a neck. Rickey Walcott, who has ridden Kaylee's Magic since that defeat, will again be aboard.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Penny Ante will have a new role in Saturday's $75,000 Autumn Leaves Handicap at Bay Meadows.

She'll be the one to beat, not simply the front-running upsetter, in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares.

has defeated odds-on Pickle and Lucky Sabre in northern California's past two turf stakes for fillies and mares, the Luther Burbank at Santa Rosa and the Hillsborough Handicap over the turf here on Sept. 3. The three are entered along with eight rivals for Saturday's race.

Statebreds will be chasing more than $1 million in purses during the 19th annual West Virginia Breeders Classics on Saturday night at Charles Town.

Eight stakes worth a collective $1.2 million will contested at distances ranging from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/8 miles, highlighted by the $500,000 Classic and the $250,000 Cavada for fillies and mares.

The presence of the seemingly ageless A Huevo could relegate the rest of the Classic field to race for second money.

MIAMI - The sun may have been shining when entries were drawn for the $40,000 Hooting Star Stakes on Monday, but there seemed little chance the five-furlong overnight stakes would go as scheduled on the turf when post time rolled around early Saturday afternoon.

LAUREL, Md. - Presidentialaffair has one tactic - go to the lead and see how far it takes him. On Saturday at Laurel Park, he will try it again as he seeks to win the Maryland Million Classic for the second year in a row.

The 20th Maryland Million - a $1.48 million festival restricted to horses by Maryland-based sires - will feature five other defending champions among 112 entrants.

CHICAGO - Watching races at Hawthorne this week, with a parade of longshots coming in, one wonders how much to apply logic during the handicapping process, and how much some other art.

Voodoo? Numerology? Animal sacrifice?

Don't try the latter at home, kids, but still, it would be wonderful to somehow, some way throw some order over the ongoing events at this meet.

Just Add Water's weight assignment points him out as the one to beat Saturday in the $20,000 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Handicap at The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan. He is the 123-pound highweight for the six-furlong race, and will carry three more pounds than his closest rivals.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe is one of three stakes on the card. The others are for Quarter Horses, including the Grade 2, $97,464 Kansas Futurity.