Lord of the Game has risen from $10,000 claimer to Grade 2 winner, and if he runs Sunday on the richest card of the meet at Mountaineer Race Track, he will be a popular favorite and big pace player in the $125,000 West Virginia Governor's Stakes. But is also entered in the $45,000 Cigar at his home base of Arlington Park on Saturday, and on Friday morning, trainer Tom Tomillo was deliberating in which direction to head with Lord of the Game.

"I'm still undecided right now," he said. "I think probably I'm leaning a little more toward Arlington."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Bayou Breeze, a game stakes winner in her Monmouth Park debut, returns to the Jersey Shore on Sunday for the Grade 3, $200,000 Monmouth Breeders' Cup Oaks.

The 1 1/16-mile Monmouth Oaks is positioned less than a week before the Grade 1 Alabama, the premier race of the summer for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga, which will be run Saturday.

While the 1 1/4-mile Alabama traditionally attracts the division leaders, the Monmouth Oaks gives such fillies as Bayou Breeze a chance to snare a graded stakes in less demanding company.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Who's the Cowboy returns to open stakes company Sunday in the Rumson Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters.

A New Jersey-bred gelding, Who's the Cowboy has won 3 of 5 starts this season, with all but one race coming against statebreds. Who's the Cowboy showed open-stakes ability last season with second-place finishes in the Rockhill Native at Monmouth and the Comet at The Meadowlands Racetrack.

DEL MAR, Calif. - What a Song and Bashert renew a budding rivalry Sunday at Del Mar, where both 2-year-olds have burned up the track preparing for the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes.

What a Song posted a neck victory last month over Bashert in the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile. Since then, each has posted bullet works at Del Mar, and trainers Bob Baffert (What a Song) and Bill Currin (Bashert) expect further improvement in the 6 1/2-furlong Best Pal.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Island Fashion, the millionaire mare who finished second against males in the 2004 Santa Anita Handicap, may take on the boys in the $1 million Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 21, trainer Marcelo Polanco said Friday.

After discussing options with owner Jeff Nielsen, Island Fashion was made one of 14 nominations to the richest race of the meeting.

As of Friday, 10 horses were considered probable starters: Ace Blue, Borrego, Choctaw Nation, Congrats, Island Fashion, Lava Man, Musique Toujours, Perfect Drift, Super Frolic, and Surf Cat.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer David La Croix has just eight horses in training this summer at Del Mar, but his stable may have the largest say in the meeting's 2-year-old stakes.

La Croix won the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes with Bully Bones on Aug. 6, and Bully Bones is headed to the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 27. Sunday, La Croix starts Corazondelcampeon in the $150,000 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds.

If he runs well, Corazondelcampeon will be bound for the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 7, putting La Croix in position to try for the rare Debutante-Futurity double.

Jonathan Sheppard had heard the horror stories of how hard Saratoga's rain-deprived turf courses had allegedly become. So concerned was Sheppard, he considered scratching Latice out of Friday's .

But Sheppard decided to walk the course himself Friday morning, and when he did he found the myth outweighed the facts.

"I didn't think it looked that bad. They've got a good grass cover, and they've obviously been irrigating it well," Sheppard said.

Dinner Choice came three wide on the turn to engage the pacesetting Tri Uimet and outgamed him in a stretch-long drive to gain a head decision in the $40,000 Cleveland Kindergarten Stakes at Thistledown on Friday afternoon. It was 4 3/4 lengths farther back to Fisticuff in the field of seven Ohio-bred 2-year-olds running six furlongs.

Tri Uimet, the odds-on choice, was leaning on the gate at the start. He hustled up to make the lead about a quarter-mile into the race, and fought back gamely when challenged by the winner.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Provided Sunday's $100,000 West Point Handicap for New York-breds remains on Saratoga's inner turf course, there is a very good chance the winner will come out of Barn 9.

Which end of the barn is the question.

On one end is Sicilian Boy, a 4-year-old son of Senor Speedy who enters the West Point off three solid efforts for trainer Richard Schosberg. On the other end is Certifiably Crazy, a 5-year-old gelded son of Fit to Fight trained by Brad Wallace who is Grade 2-placed and beat open-company allowance runners last time on turf.

CHICAGO - High Expectations finished third in the $100,000 Round Table Stakes on July 16. He showed, however, that he could hang with open company, an open question after High Expectations rose to the top of the Illinois-bred 3-year-old class with a convincing win in the Springfield Stakes in late June.

But how will fare in an open allowance race against older horses, a race in which he may have to run down a loose-on-the-lead Iosilver?