FORT ERIE, Ontario - Lyle Morden, who is having a career year, lost a little ground last week in his quest to wrestle the lead from Nick Gonzalez in the trainer standings at Fort Erie.

Morden, better known as Butch by racetrackers, was one win out of first place at the start of the last racing week. As racing resumes Saturday, Morden, with 32 victories, trails Gonzalez by three wins.

Morden, 48, got a rather late start at the races. A Welland, Ontario, native successful in business, he became a horse owner in 1989.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Go Deputy is a 5-year-old who has raced just twice in the past 22 months, but he has been working regularly at Delaware Park and may be the one to beat in Friday's eighth-race feature at Belmont Park.

Scheduled for the inner turf at 1 1/8 miles, the optional $50,000 claimer carries third-level allowance conditions. Among the eight entered for turf, only Chilly Rooster is offered for the $75,000 claim price.

POMONA, Calif. - If the consistent mare Dee Dee's Diner is such a standout Friday in the $60,000 Pio Pico Stakes at Fairplex Park, why have so many entered to run against her?

Nine California-bred fillies and mares entered the 6 1/2-furlong stakes. It is a wide-open race - for second place.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Champagne Royale figures to be a short price when she takes on five other fillies and mares in an optional $35,000 claiming race at Hastings Friday evening. Her toughest challenge in the 1 1/16-mile race could come from the lone 3-year-old filly and the only stakes winner in the race, Country Kat.

AUBURN, Wash. - Sugar Pine invades from Hastings Park on Friday when she takes on six other 3-year-old fillies in the Emerald feature, a mile test for $25,000 to $30,000 claimers.

Sugar Pine, a daughter Mud Route who races for Janis Witham, finished a close second in last year's Fantasy Stakes at Hastings and she won at the optional $50,000 claiming level earlier this year in Vancouver. She has gone unplaced in three stakes attempts this year, however, and she is coming off a seventh-place finish at odds of 44-1 in the 1 1/16-mile Nanaimo Handicap on Aug. 20.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Singhalese already is a Grade 1 winner, having taken the Del Mar Oaks in her last start, and she may be on her way to a date in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland after racing Saturday at Arlington Park in the $200,000 Pucker Up Stakes.

But snuck onto the Federal Express flight that carried Singhalese to Chicago on Tuesday was another California-based 3-year-old filly, Royal Copenhagen. She might not be quite on a par with Singhalese - and then again, she might.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Atto Mile suffered a blow on Wednesday with the news that Artie Schiller would not be making the trip for Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million feature here at Woodbine.

Artie Schiller, based in New York with trainer Jimmy Jerkens, had been targeted for the Atto Mile since winning the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch at Saratoga on Aug. 1. His defection left a probable field of nine for the Atto Mile, which was to be drawn Thursday.

Before a pair of unbeaten 2-year-olds clashed on July 29, 2004, in the Grade 2 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga, there was no way to know that one would go on to stardom and the other into oblivion.

Afleet Alex was an easy winner of the Sanford, while Lunarpal, who had opened his career with four straight wins, finished sixth. And while Afleet Alex proceeded to become the most accomplished horse in his class, Lunarpal hasn't even had another race.

ELMONT, N.Y. - With the news that Bellamy Road is out for the year and Commentator is likely to turn back to shorter distances, the connections of the front-running handicap horses Alumni Hall and Ice Wynnd Fire are thinking about the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup here on Oct 1.

Before learning about Bellamy Road, trainer Neil Howard had been targeting the $500,000 Meadowlands Cup for Alumni Hall, who earlier this year won the Grade 3 Ben Ali Handicap at Keeneland and who is coming off an allowance win at Saratoga last month.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Vaca City Flyer, one of the best claims of 2004, returns to action at Bay Meadows on Friday night in a tough spot. She has five rivals in a $50,000 optional claimer at six furlongs and gives away a conditioning edge to each of them as she makes her first start in seven months.