PLEASANTON, Calif. - Seven stakes winners are in the field of eight in Saturday's $50,0000 Sam J. Whiting Handicap at the Alameda County Fair.

The six-furlong sprint traditionally attracts a strong field, and Saturday's renewal is no exception.

Grade 1 winner makes his comeback after a year on the sidelines, but he will be one of the longest shots on the board.

won last year's edition after a three-month layoff, and he returns off a similar freshener with a series of bullet drills to suggest he's ready.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Sunday's $40,000 Victor S. Myers Jr. and $40,000 Frances Genter Stakes are the traditional first skirmishes between the best 3-year-old Minnesota-breds on the Canterbury Park backstretch. Both the Myers, for colts and geldings, and the Genter, for fillies, are run at six furlongs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Ministers Wild Cat, the dominant sprinter at the Woodbine meeting, goes for his fourth straight victory Saturday in the $136,875 Bold Venture Handicap.

Ministers Wild Cat was briefly on the 2003 Kentucky Derby trail, when he was based in Southern California with trainer Neil Drysdale. After spending most of last fall in Kentucky, he was shipped here to trainer Scott Fairlie, and finished second in a Nov. 27 allowance.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Moon Worship developed an instant following when he romped to a 6 1/2-length maiden victory over five furlongs here at Woodbine last Saturday, and the 86 Beyer Speed Figure he earned was the best for a 2-year-old in Canada this year.

So it is not a question of talent, but a question of timing as Moon Worship swings right back in Saturday's $157,500 Clarendon Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Fort Erie's quarter-mile specialist Pembroke Hall will attempt to become a repeat winner in the $50,000 Rocket Man at Calder on Saturday.

The Rocket Man, a two-furlong stakes, is the opening race of the Summit of Speed program at the Florida track. Eight sprint stakes worth a total of $1.9 million will be run.

Pembroke Hall, 8, was a 2-1 favorite when he captured last year's Rocket Man by a head. It was his 10th consecutive victory, all at two furlongs. Since then, he has won once and has had two seconds in three more attempts at the distance.

Precocious enough to win his debut and two subsequent stakes races at age 2, rugged enough to finish fourth last year in the Kentucky Derby after three spring preps, and durable enough this year to run perhaps the best race of his life in last month's Brooklyn Handicap, Limehouse is a modern-day rarity, a 4-year-old colt who has remained at or near the top of his class for three straight seasons.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Bay Meadows Land Company, which operates Bay Meadows racetrack in northern California, has agreed to purchase Hollywood Park from Churchill Downs Inc. for $260 million, officials from the two companies said Wednesday.

The deal, which is expected to be completed in the coming months, could lead to commercial or residential development of the 240-acre site on which the 67-year-old racetrack sits. The agreement was announced jointly by Churchill and Bay Meadows.

Thistledown has stopped sending its simulcast signal to Northfield Park, a harness track located six miles away.

The Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association had asked Thistledown management to discontinue sending the signal to Northfield because Northfield pays a reduced simulcast fee of 1.375 percent for the signal that generates little or no money for purses at Thistledown.

Thistledown received permission to halt the signal from the Ohio State Racing Commission on Tuesday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Pioneer Pete heads a solid field of older sprinters running in the feature race at Hastings Friday evening. The $20,000 claiming race at 6 1/2 furlongs drew seven horses.

With 2 wins from his first 17 starts, Pioneer Pete was just another horse until June of 2004. Since then, the 6-year-old gelding has won 6 of 10 races.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Rum Candi seeks her second victory in four starts in Northland Park's $40,000 optional claiming feature at 6 1/2 furlongs Friday. Rum Candi is the only 2005 winner tin a field of seven fillies and mares.

Rum Candi, a 6-year-old owned by Bear Stable, is making her first appearance since finishing sixth in the Marc Jenkins Memorial on May 1. She had earned a shot at stakes company when she won a six-furlong optional claimer by a nose.

Rickey Walcott retains the mount on Rum Candi for trainer Dale Greenwood.