Saturday's Louisiana Breeders' Festival at Louisiana Downs, a 13-race program of stakes for Louisiana-breds worth a total of more than $1 million, should go a long way toward determining statebred honors in several categories.

The Louisiana Breeders' Oaks and the Louisiana Breeders' Derby should provide a golden opportunity for a couple of 3-year-olds to step to the head of their class. The Oaks and the derby, two of the eight Thoroughbred stakes on the card, will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track with a purse of $100,000 each.

The $200,000-added Connally Breeders' Cup again leads the 27-race, $1.6 million stakes schedule at Sam Houston Race Park for 2005-2006, but the track has made one major change to its annual $500,000 Texas Champions Day card Nov. 19.

The $150,000 Sam Houston Texan Juvenile, which was the lone open-company race on what is the richest card of the meet, will not be run in 2005.

Eight of the 10 jockeys scheduled to ride in Wednesday's ninth race at Suffolk Downs chose to take off their mounts because of concerns over a section of the turf course that they felt had become uneven after it was watered that morning.

The second race, the only other turf race on Wednesday, was run without incident.

It may seem strange to favor a maiden facing winners in a stakes, but based on Beyers and his trainer's reputation for stretching out sprinters, Superfly sure looks like a lock in the $55,000 Whirling Ash at Delaware Park.

Although 0 for 2 in his brief career for trainer Nick Zito, Superfly comes out of an extremely fast maiden race at Saratoga in which Discreet Cat was awarded a 106 Beyer. Superfly, beaten 3 1/2 lengths as the 2-1 favorite, got a 97.

That number is 23 points higher than any other 2-year-old in the one-mile Whirling Ash has ever run.

A pair of sharp Saratoga shippers who began their racing careers in England give trainer H. Graham Motion a potent one-two punch for Saturday's $100,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial Breeders' Cup Handicap at Laurel Park.

Funfair, 2 for 2 since arriving in the United States, and Battle Chant, whose Beyer Speed Figures have steadily risen in three North American races, are formidable threats in the Schapiro, which will be contested at 1 1/8 miles on turf.

"I may end up running both of them," Motion said. "It all depends on the weather and the condition of the turf course."

Iowa Oaks winner Whimsy heads a strong field of eight 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Oaks at 1 1/16 miles.

Whimsy was a rallying 2 3/4-length winner of the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on July 1. In her most recent start, Whimsy faded to fifth, beaten two lengths, after making a bid for the lead in midstretch of the 1 1/8-mile Arlington Oaks on Aug. 20.

Whimsy, trained by Michael Stidham, is 2 for 2 at Prairie Meadows, having captured the Panthers in June in addition to the Prairie Meadows Oaks.

Sweetwater Promise, unraced since winning the $50,000 Moonbeam Handicap on July 23, and Deb's Favoite Gift are the co-highweights in the $50,000 Farer Belle Lee Handicap at Great Lakes Downs. The 1 1/16-mile race is restricted to Michigan-bred fillies and mares.

The 6-year-old Sweetwater Promise, trained by James Jackson, is a past champion at Great Lakes and the only horse in the field to have won a stakes at the current meet.

Of the six fillies and mares entered in the $40,000 New Braunfels at Retama Park, two last raced in California: Aclevershadeofjade and Five Star Meeting.

They will take on a capable group of locals in the six-furlong New Braunfels, among them Shannons Valentine and Seneca Song.

Aclevershadeofjade was claimed for $16,000 out of her last start, when she won a six-furlong race at Del Mar on July 21. Since then, she has worked a bullet six furlongs in 1:14 at Santa Anita on Sept. 1. Aclevershadeofjade is trained by Shannon Hastings.

Nine accredited Ohio-bred 2-year-old fillies will race six furlongs in the $40,000 Emerald Necklace Stakes at Thistledown.

Double Diva figures to be favored after winning a maiden race in her last start on Aug. 11. She rallied from just off the pace to gain a neck decision going 5 1/2-furlongs against statebreds. Prior to that she was second in a maiden race and she was unplaced in her career debut.

Double Diva's running style suggests that the extra half-furlong of the Emerald Necklace should enhance her chances.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Resurgent, one of two sent out by trainer Carl Anderson, looks for his second stakes win in Saturday's J.W. Sifton Stakes here at Assiniboia Downs. The $40,000 J.W. Sifton, for 3-year-olds bred in Manitoba, goes at 1 1/8 miles.

Resurgent won the Manitoba Stakes on June 25 in his first attempt going a route of ground. After poor outings in the Derby Trial Stakes and Manitoba Derby, Resurgent was cut back in distance and dropped into a first-level allowance race, which he won. Most recently, Resurgent finished third in the Harry Jeffrey Stakes.