Apprentice jockey Justin Stein had the best day of his burgeoning career Friday night at Hastings. Stein won with 6 of his 8 mounts and came close to sweeping the card, as his other two mounts finished second.

Stein won the first race with the 3-2 favorite, Balazo. He followed that up with a stirring ride aboard another favorite, Pickin Pale Gold, who came from well back to get up to win by a half-length. His closest call was in the fourth race with Stormented ($9.70), who won by a diminishing nose.

Dr. Gary Wilson began serving as chief veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority on Saturday at Ellis Park, said John Veitch, chief steward for the racing authority. Wilson replaced Dr. Mitzi Fisher, who retired earlier this week.

As chief veterinarian for the Kentucky racing authority, Wilson is responsible for protecting the safety of entered horses and for the testing of racehorses for medications.

Come October, trainer Todd Pletcher could be faced with a sticky situation. Pletcher's powerful stable includes Ashado, the defending Breeders' Cup Distaff champion and the 2004 Eclipse Award winner in the 3-year-old filly division. But he now also has Isola Piu Bella, a 5-year-old Chilean import who has already won three nine-furlong stakes at three different tracks this season.

Pletcher avoided an immediate confrontation by entering Isola Piu Bella in Sunday's $1 million at Delaware Park and keeping Ashado in reserve for the Go for Wand Handicap at Saratoga on July 31.

What shaped up as a showdown featuring a trio of 3-year-olds who last raced in the Preakness suddenly became a duet on Friday with word that the probable favorite for Sunday's Grade 3, $300,000 Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park will be scratched.

, runner-up to Afleet Alex in the second leg of racing's Triple Crown on May 21, was withdrawn from the race because of a minor injury detected during a gallop on Thursday.

According to trainer Robbie Bailes, rider Ramon Dominguez reported that Scrappy T didn't seem to be running comfortably.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Sunday's Grade 2 Tom Fool at Belmont Park lacks the quality it has had in recent runnings. Two of the last three winners were crowned champions the year they won the Tom Fool, including the 2004 winner, Horse of the Year Ghostzapper. Left Bank, the 2002 winner, was named handicap champion the year he won the Tom Fool.

This year's edition of the $150,000 Tom Fool Handicap matches seven useful sprinters, but no standouts.

Smokume and Willy o'The Valley are the co-highweights at 115 pounds.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Stretch-runner Runaway Dancer and front-runner T. H. Approval reverse parimutuel roles when they meet for the second time Sunday in the Grade 2 Sunset Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on the Hollywood Park turf.

finished a dull fifth at 4-1. In the $150,000 Sunset on Sunday, Runaway Dancer will try to show that win was legitimate; T.H. Approval will try to show his Jim Murray washout was a fluke.

Eight older horses entered the Sunset on closing day of the spring-summer meet at Hollywood.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Three horses at Arlington Park have three wins at the meet. Christine Janks trains two of them.

High Expectations was scheduled to run Saturday, and the other three-win horse, Fifteen Rounds, goes Sunday in the $45,000 Smile Stakes.

appearance in this five-furlong turf race is somewhat surprising, since he started just two weeks ago, and Janks runs her horses with patience. But if she thinks he is ready to go, bettors should believe; Janks, second in the trainer standings, is 66-20-13-11 here.

Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally will have a good idea very early at Del Mar what impact his stable will have in the meeting's major stakes.

McAnally will have as many as four starters in Wednesday's opening-day feature, the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds over a mile on turf. The race is expected to be split for the 17th consecutive year because of strong entries, which is great news for McAnally. He has nominated Avanti Avanti, In Excelsis, Lucky Bid, and Mighty Empire. Avanti Avanti and In Excelsis each won an allowance race at Hollywood Park in his last start.

VALLEJO, Calif. - Although not a stakes race, Sunday's feature at the Solano County Fair may be the best race of the meeting.

Only five are signed up for the 1 1/16-mile second-level allowance, but the field includes comebacking Wimbledon, who makes his first start since injuring a tendon last year.

Trainer Tom Roberts said he is excited about Wimbledon, whose biggest win last year came in the Louisiana Derby.

"He's a cool horse," Roberts said. "He has so much class.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - For 11 years, Arlington Park was called Arlington International, and this is the time of year when racing fans are reminded why. There are always overseas horses shipping in for Arlington Million Day, but this season the international travelers are coming earlier, with one horse already here for Arlington's so-called Million Preview Day on July 23.