OCEANPORT, N.J. - Closing Argument helped put the NATC Futurity on the map when he captured last year's colt division for his first stakes victory. The NATC Futurity was one of the stepping-stones leading to his surprising second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

The next crop of 2-year-olds sold at auction this season can take a step toward greater glory Saturday when, for the first time, Monmouth Park hosts a pair of $200,000 NATC Futurity divisions for colts and fillies at six furlongs.

The races had been held at Delaware Park for the last three years.

Zee Oh Six and George Taylor are riding different kind of win streaks into Saturday night's $75,000 Oklahoma Classics Day Classic at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

has won his last two starts while George Taylor has won the last two runnings of the 1 1/16-mile Classic, one of seven stakes worth $315,000 on this Oklahoma Classics Day.

The races are restricted to Oklahoma-breds eligible to the series, and combined they make for one of the richest cards of the meet at Remington.

Wayzata Bay and Yak the Desert Rat lead a field of six 3-year-olds entered in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Derby, the closing-day feature of the mixed meeting.

Wayzata Bay has kept the best company of any of the entrants in the 1 1/16-mile derby, winning the Prairie Mile in June and finishing fourth, beaten less than four lengths, in the $250,000 Iowa Derby on July 1.

In his most recent start, Wayzata Bay rallied to finish third, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, after having to wait for racing room in upper stretch in the mile-and-70-yard Minneapolis at Canterbury on Sept. 5.

Beulah Park on Saturday begins its 60-day fall meeting, which runs through Dec. 21.

The meet is highlighted by next Saturday's Best of Ohio Day, which rotates on a yearly basis between the state's three Thoroughbred tracks and features five stakes for Ohio-breds. The stakes range in value from $50,000 to $75,000.

The inaugural season at Evangeline Downs's new facility concludes with a program featuring nine sprinters going 4 1/2 furlongs in the $40,000 Need for Speed Stakes.

Joyful Tune, who has raced almost exclusively on turf this season at Lone Star Park and Louisiana Downs, returns to the main track for the first time since just missing at Delta Downs in January. The 7-year-old Joyful Tune beat upper-level claimers by 2 1/2 lengths on turf at Louisiana Downs in his most recent start. Eight of his 14 lifetime wins have come on dirt.

Fiji Island, winner of the Temptress Stakes on Sept. 3, is one of three 2-year-old fillies entered by trainer James Jackson in the $50,000 Sickle's Image Stakes at Great Lakes Downs.

The six-furlong Sickle's Image, in its 29th running, drew eight Michigan-bred fillies who will each carry 119 pounds.

Fiji Island, who started her career at Keeneland, has had little trouble winning at Great Lakes. She captured the Temptress by two lengths without fully extending herself. She will be ridden by Luis Martinez.

The Woodlands meet may be short, but it won't be short on racing. The Woodlands will open Saturday and run five days a week, with as many as 12 races a card, through the close of the season on Oct. 29.

During the 26-date meet there will be 20 stakes, with six scheduled for closing day, including the $100,000 Kansas Jackpot Futurity for Quarter Horses.

The busy racing schedule is nothing new to The Woodlands, which features separate horse racing and greyhound facilities on the same property in Kansas City, Kan.

POMONA, Calif. - Texcess starts over Saturday in the $100,000 Pomona Derby at Fairplex Park. Although the 1 1/8-mile Derby is his first race in four months, it is a race Texcess should win.

Will he fire first start back?

"He's acting like he will; he's acting dead fit," trainer Paul Aguirre said.

That would be bad news for his Pomona Derby rivals because Texcess already is the most accomplished in the field of 11 3-year-olds. He has won 3 races and $770,625 from 9 starts, is graded stakes-placed, and proven over the Fairplex track.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Beau Brass will shoot for his third victory in the Alberta Fall Classic series when he carries top weight of 121 pounds in the $75,000 Alberta Breeders' Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race for older horses at Northlands on Saturday.

The Alberta Breeders', one of seven stakes on the program, attracted a field of five.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - While the $250,000 British Columbia Derby is the feature race at Hastings on Saturday, the supporting feature, the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill, is every bit as good as the derby, if not better.