POMONA, Calif. - One year after breaking the single-season record by winning 16 races at the 2 1/2-half week Los Angeles County Fair meet, trainer Doug O'Neill offered an optimistic forecast for the 16-day 2005 meet, which begins Friday.

"I think we'll be pretty active," O'Neill said.

It is nothing new - O'Neill is always loaded for Fairplex Park. He has led or tied the standings the last three years, and this season tries to become the first trainer in 67 years of racing at the fair to win four straight titles.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Little Bentley will test his ability on the grass for the first time Friday at Woodbine in the fourth race, a one-mile allowance for Ontario-sired runners who have not won three races.

Little Bentley, trained by David Bell for Melnyk Racing Stable, went on the sidelines after running third behind A Bit O'Gold and Niigon in the 2004 Plate Trial Stakes. He reappeared

June 10, finishing third in an allowance sprint, and then won 1 1/16-mile allowance for nonwinners of two on June 30.

AUBURN, Wash. - Katoclysmic Wave may have a slight edge over a half-dozen other 3-year-olds in Friday's one-mile feature for $15,000 claimers at Emerald Downs.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Rickey Walcott, the meet's leading rider, will be looking for the upset when he rides Howsitgoin in Friday's $50,000 3-year-old filly Sale Stakes here at Northlands Park. Howsitigoin will face four rivals in the one-mile feature.

Speedy Gone Sally looms the horse to beat. Speedy Gone Sally, ridden by Perry Winters, has been competitive with the best in her division. Saucy Ciano, R Lucinda, and Glenora round out the field.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Patrick Biancone doesn't know whether to pray for rain this weekend or hope the warm, dry conditions remain intact. Biancone has two fillies to run in a pair of Grade 1 turf stakes this weekend at Belmont Park, each of whom has shown a preference for a particular type of ground.

Angara, who is nominated to Saturday's $500,000 Man o' War against males, would prefer turf with some give in it. Asi Siempre, who is being pointed to Saturday's $300,000 Garden City Breeders' Cup for 3-year-old fillies, likes it firm.

Bay Meadows has added a new $100,000 sprint stakes to its fall schedule, which would give undefeated Lost in the Fog a possible prep race for the Breeders' Cup.

The Bay Meadows Speed Handicap will be run on Oct. 1, four weeks before the Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park. The six-furlong race is for 3-year-olds and up and would be Lost in the Fog's first race against older runners.

"I'm very happy this race has come about," said Lost in the Fog's trainer, Greg Gilchrist. "It would definitely fit into our schedule well. I'd have to say we're very interested."

The Hot Springs, Ark., city council on Tuesday night set Nov. 8 as the date for a local referendum asking residents to decide if new electronic gaming machines can be added to the wagering lineup at Oaklawn Park.

The type of machines will be defined by the Arkansas Racing Commission, and they will be different than the Instant Racing machines already in place at the track, said Terry Wallace, spokesman for Oaklawn.

This spring, the Arkansas legislature passed a bill that enabled Oaklawn to petition Hot Springs for a vote on expanded gaming.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Perfect Drift figures to be heavily favored when he makes his next start in the Hawthorne Gold Cup on Sept. 24. He might scare off the one-time maiden-claimer Lord of the Game, but another good Chicago-based horse, Nkosi Reigns, is pointing for the Gold Cup, Perfect Drift or no.

"That's the plan," said trainer Christine Janks.

AUBURN, Wash. - Alexandersrun came to trainer Tim McCanna's barn ready to run in last month's Seattle Slew Handicap, and run he did, winning by a neck in a rapid 1:41.60 for the 1 1/16 miles.

The trainer figured all he needed to do was to keep Alexandersrun on an even keel for the month preceding Monday's $100,000 , but he feared he was botching the assignment.

"He was real quiet before his last race, and he wasn't quite the same for this one," said McCanna. "I was worried that I had changed him."

Jess Genuine goes after her fifth straight victory and second in a Grade 1 race in the $351,900 Sam Houston Futurity on Friday night at Sam Houston Race Park.

On Saturday night, fastest qualifier Si Puede brings a five-race winning streak into the Grade 1, $111,400 Sam Houston Derby.