SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The $250,000 King's Bishop Stakes is one of three graded races on the undercard for Saturday's 12-race Travers Day program at Saratoga. But the presence of the undefeated 3-year-old sensation Lost in the Fog, and the race's Grade 1 status, puts the seven-furlong King's Bishop in the limelight right alongside the tradition-rich Travers itself.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Polytrack passed another test Wednesday morning at Turfway Park when three exhibition races were run without incident over the track's new racing surface.

With nearly 100 people watching from the track apron, the five-furlong races were run in the relatively slow times of 1:03.20, 1:03.20, and 1:04. Although Turfway opened the new track to training Aug. 3, Wednesday marked the first time that horses were allowed to break from the starting gate and proceed through simulated race conditions.

Del Mar has raised purses approximately 5 percent for the meet, an increase retroactive to opening day, July 20, track officials said Wednesday.

The retroactive portion of the increase, which totaled $492,995, was paid on Tuesday to owners whose horses earned money in overnight races. The increase did not affect the purses of the track's 29 major stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Horse owner Charlie Cono and trainer Christopher Paasch went to the Florida 2-year-olds in training sales this year, searching for fillies that could be effective in sprints and routes.

They bought two promising fillies - Diplomat Lady and Mystery Girl. Their career paths converge in Saturday's $250,000 Del Mar Debutante at seven furlongs.

For Paasch, 49, it is a rare chance to start two horses in a Grade 1 race. He has yet to win at that level, but would love to do so for Cono, who owns all 15 of the horses that Paasch has in training.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey Rafael Bejarano, believed to be out for the remainder of the meet after suffering an ankle injury on Aug. 1, is slated to return to race-riding this weekend, said his agent, Joe Ferrer.

Bejarano is named to ride Storm Surge in Saturday's Grade 1 King's Bishop Stakes here. It is his only mount on the 12-race card.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Regal Red's connections said they weren't disappointed with her second-place finish to Pretty Meadow in the Cover Girl Handicap last Sunday. Regal Red had her seven-race win streak snapped, but she was beaten by only a half-length in a very fast 1:16.47 for 6 1/2 furlongs, and considering it was her first start since being sidelined four months with a saucer fracture, who could complain?

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Cherokee's Boy goes for a Monmouth Park hat trick - three consecutive stakes victories here - in the Grade 3, $250,000 Philip H. Iselin Breeders' Cup Handicap on Sunday.

That string of success has earned him the role of likely starting highweight at 118 pounds for the 1 1/8 miles stakes.

Cherokee's Boy is in the midst of an outstanding season with 4 wins in 6 starts, including three consecutive stakes victories.

"He has stepped up to the challenge," said trainer Gary Capuano. "Now he gets one more."

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The Bay Meadows fall meeting opens Friday with higher purses for the track's meat-and-potatoes races, the $4,000 to $16,000 claimers. The 33-day meeting runs through Oct. 16.

The purses for open races at the $4,000 level will be $10,500; for $6,250 claimers, $12,000; for $12,500 claimers, $16,000; and for $16,000 claimers, $20,000. Maiden and allowance races also received purse bumps. Average daily purses for the meet will be $140,000 for cards of eight or nine races.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There's a Grade 1 winner coming in for the Arlington Breeders' Cup Sprint Handicap. The trainer Christine Janks doesn't really know his form, and doesn't yet care to know. Janks has been pointing the Arlington-based sprinter Fifteen Rounds to the Arlington Sprint, and she's not about to duck anybody now.

"I think we have a very fast horse," Janks said. "Whoever it is will have to be faster to beat him."

Fastest qualifier Cut the Snow and the undefeated Snowbound Sapphire meet in the Grade 3, $46,350 Ford California Juvenile Challenge as part of a stakes doubleheader Friday night at Los Alamitos.

Also on Friday night, Grade 1 Charger Bar Handicap winner Mini Rock will be favored to gain her fourth straight stakes win in the Grade 3, $22,680 John Deere California Distaff Challenge.

The winners of each of these stakes will qualify for their respective races on Challenge Championship night at Los Alamitos on Nov. 5.