AUBURN, Wash. - Karis Makaw will face her sternest test yet when she takes on eight accomplished rivals in Sunday's $100,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Distaff at one mile for fillies and mares.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - For the second time this year, trainer Ardell Sayler will send out a strong contingent in a 2-year-old stakes at Assiniboia Downs. In July, Sayler sent out four of the seven fillies in the Debutante Stakes. On Sunday, Sayler will saddle three of the eight colts and geldings entered in the restricted North Dakota Stallion Stakes.

All three of Sayler's entrants - Bib Overalls, Barnstorm, and Catch Me Talkin - will race with Lasix for the first time. They are drawn in the outside three post positions in the six-furlong race.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Woodbine-based Krz Ruckus has done a lot of winning in his career. The 8-year-old gelding has scored 15 times - all in sprints - and sports earnings of $1,057,054.

Only $2,427 of that amount was earned on the grass. Krz Ruckus was off the board in both of his attempts on the turf - once in 2000 and again in 2002.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Kabul, who has earned $619,398 without winning a stakes, will team up with jockey Todd Kabel in Sunday's $125,000 Victoriana Stakes at Woodbine.

The 1 1/16-mile grass race has drawn a seven-horse field of Ontario-sired fillies and mares, which includes the hot 3-year-old Top Ten List.

Kabul finished fourth behind Inish Glora, last year's champion turf female, in the 2004 Victoriana. She has won 2 of her 6 starts this year, including the allowance prep for the Nassau Stakes in May.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Deputy Country, last season's Alberta horse of the year, goes after his third consecutive stakes victory in the $50,000 Westerner at Northlands Park Sunday.

In the Westerner, the final prep for the $100,000 Speed to Spare here Sept. 10, Deputy Country will renew his rivalry with Beau Brass, who was runner-up to him in both the Spangled Jimmy and Klondike handicaps.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The sensational Regal Red makes her return in the $40,000 Cover Girl Handicap at Hastings Sunday. Also on the card is the $40,000 Hastings Speed Handicap. Both races are at 6 1/2 furlongs, and both drew short fields.

Only four horses entered the Cover Girl, and it appears that it will boil down to a match race between Regal Red and Pretty Meadow.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher felt Spun Sugar was compromised by inside, pace-prompting trips when she finished second in the Mother Goose and third in the Coaching Club American Oaks. So he was quite pleased to learn that Spun Sugar drew the outside post in the seven-horse field entered to run 1 1/4 miles in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 at Saratoga.

"Perfect," Pletcher said. "We should be able to allow things to happen."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The connections of Bellamy Road have decided where the beaten Kentucky Derby favorite will make his next start. They just aren't ready to let everybody else know yet.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Diamond Green was ambitiously spotted the first time he came to America, finishing eighth in last October's Breeders' Cup Mile. His sights are set a bit more realistically for his second trip to the U.S., when he runs in Saturday's $65,000 Troy Stakes at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At the eighth pole of Thursday's $66,500 for New York-breds, jockey Javier Castellano was just hoping he could finish fourth aboard Chowder's First.

With one horse beat and racing extremely wide, Chowder's First appeared hopelessly beaten while Clever Electrician, Top Shoter, and Papua appeared headed for a blanket finish.