ARCADIA, Calif. - Prize money was not the main issue when trainer Richard Mandella decided between Saturday's $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park or the $500,000 Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap at Santa Anita for the comeback of handicap star Rock Hard Ten.

Keeping the Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful at home was the deciding factor, and with good reason. Mandella is the latest trainer to prove that the Goodwood-BC Classic double is achievable, having accomplished that feat in 2003 with Pleasantly Perfect.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Canadian Derby glory eluded Ding Dong Dandy, but the 3-year-old gelding cashed in by taking the Beaufort on the ninth annual Alberta Fall Classics program at Northlands Park on Saturday.

The $50,000 Beaufort, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, was one of seven stakes races for Alberta-breds on the Saturday card.

Ding Dong Dandy had to be satisfied with second money behind Vancouver invader Alabama Rain in the Aug. 27 Canadian Derby, but he had things all his own way in the Beaufort.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Declan's Moon, last year's champion 2-year-old male, has been taken out of training and will not race again until next year, according to his trainer, Ron Ellis.

Declan's Moon has not raced since winning the Santa Catalina Stakes on March 5. He emerged from the race with a small chip in his left knee. He had been training recently at Hollywood Park, but Ellis was not satisfied with his progress.

ARCADIA, Calif. - With the beginning of the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita on Wednesday, the California Horse Racing Board will now conduct total carbon dioxide testing for milkshakes, a process that had been overseen by racetracks until a bill was passed and signed by the governor earlier this month and new rules approved.

ARCADIA, Calif. - At last year's Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita, trainer Mike Mitchell earned both his fourth Oak Tree training title, and the scrutiny and whispers that come with winning races at a 43 percent strike rate. Those whispers might have turned to a scream this summer at Del Mar, when Mitchell had his runners subject to 24-hour surveillance after one of his horses tested for a high level of total carbon dioxide (TCO2), euphemistically referred to as a "milkshake," at Hollywood Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Todd Pletcher was one of the stars of last year's Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, saddling two winners for his first victories in the series. This weekend will go a long way toward determining his chances of having more Breeders' Cup success at the end of October.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Pat Reynolds has had some good fortune at the claim box over the years, haltering the likes of Peeping Tom, Eltawaasul, Alysweep, and Tom's Thunder, and turning them into stakes winners.

Reynolds appears to have made another solid claim in Rahy's Chance, whom he and owner Paul Pompa took for $75,000 on Aug. 4. Three weeks later, Reynolds won an optional claiming race with him at Saratoga. On Wednesday, Rahy's Chance runs in another a high-priced claimer, the feature on Belmont Park's nine-race card.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Handle figures suffered significant declines at the 90-day Monmouth Park meet that ended Sunday, both ontrack and off.

Ontrack handle on Monmouth races fell to an average of $645,523, 8.5 percent lower than last year's daily average for an 87-day meet. Even greater was the 14.4 percent drop in total daily handle on Monmouth racing from all sources, to $3,019,576.

The lone bright spot was attendance, averaging 9,093 daily, right in line with 9,085 in 2004.

Hurricane Rita's impact on Delta Downs, a racetrack, casino, and hotel property in Vinton, La., was still being determined on Monday, but there is wind and water damage to the track's main buildings, and the roofs of most of the wooden barns on the backstretch were blown off in the storm, according to an official with the town of Vinton and several others with knowledge of the local situation. A reopening date for the property has not been determined, but it will be a race to repair the damage before Oct. 21, when Delta is scheduled to begin its Thoroughbred meet.

Missile Bay and Who's the Cowboy won $60,000 stakes for 3-year-olds on closing day at Monmouth Park.

Missile Bay ($12.40), trained by Scott Lake and ridden by Aaron Gryder, set a quick pace and held off a late bid from Career Oriented to capture the Mongo Queen for fillies. Missile Bay prevailed by three-quarters of a length in 1:10.13 for the six furlongs.

The New Jersey-bred Who's the Cowboy ($6.80) beat open company in the City Zip. The gelding came off the pace to beat Euro Code by 1 1/4 lengths as he ran the six furlongs in 1:09.04.