Sooner Pride invades from his home base in Oklahoma and seeks his third straight win when he heads a field of six in the $12,500 Journal Star Stakes for 3-year-olds going six furlongs at the Nebraska State Fair Park at Lincoln.

Trained by O. J. Osborn, Sooner Pride has won 4 of 6 starts this year, including wins over older rivals in the Derby Day Handicap and the Jack Hammer Memorial at Blue Ribbon Downs. An Oklahoma-bred son of Notable Cat, Sooner Pride has posted a career mark of 7-1-0 from 13 career starts and earned over $67,000.

Swasti will try to defend her title against nine rivals Sunday in the $40,000 Lady Slipper Stakes for Minnesota-bred fillies and mares at Canterbury Park.

A 5-year-old, Swasti was claimed for $35,000 on May 3 and will race for new owner Connie Phillips and trainer David Van Winkle. The May 3 race was the first of the season for Swasti, who rallied smartly to finish second in the optional claiming event on the turf. That move should set her up nicely for a race that should feature a rapid pace. Derek Ball rides.

BALTIMORE - The third time was a charm Friday for trainer Todd Pletcher at Pimlico. After sending out Maddalena and Ashado as losing favorites in two preceding stakes, Pletcher finally visited the winner's circle when Spun Sugar won as the favorite in the Grade 2, $200,000 .

Ridden by John Velazquez, Spun Sugar overcame a spot of trouble in the first turn of the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan before drawing away from R Lady Joy. The winner returned $4.40 in a field of six 3-year-old fillies.

It was cloudy, gray, and raw at Pimlico Race Course on Friday, but the smile of jockey Ryan Fogelsonger shined through the gloaming after he rode Silmaril to an upset victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 .

"Damn right I'm fired up," Fogelsonger said. "We just beat a Breeders' Cup champion."

Silmaril, at 7-1 the longest shot in the four-horse field, wore down odds-on favorite Ashado in the final sixteenth to prevail by three-quarters of a length on a sloppy track. Ashado finished five lengths in front of third-place Friel's for Real. Pleasant Home trailed.

Trainer Nick Zito got his Preakness weekend off to a good start when Burnish rallied down the center of the sloppy main track to win the Grade 3, $100,000 by two lengths over Partners Due. It was 1 1/4 lengths back to Hot Storm in third.

Burnish, a daughter of Menifee owned and bred by Arthur Hancock, won for the fourth time in six starts. She was coming off a 10 1/4-length victory in the slop at Keeneland, so when the skies opened Friday morning and dumped more than an inch of rain on the track, Zito was happy.

Gabianna, the longest shot on the board at 88-1, relished a rain-soaked course and scored an improbable win in the $75,000 for female turf sprinters.

The fallout continues at Evangeline Downs as horsemen and track officials attempt to deal with the Wednesday announcement that racing will be suspended until June 30 while repairs are made to the racing surface.

Evangeline Downs, located in Opelousas, La., is in the midst of its inaugural Thoroughbred meet after relocating from its former location in Carencro. The new Evangeline Downs is home to both a racetrack and a casino.

Indiana Downs officials planned to resume racing Friday night after canceling racing Thursday when the contagious equine disease strangles was found in horses stabled in its receiving barn.

Two horses believed to have the disease were removed from the grounds Thursday and transported to Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind., where tests confirmed the presence of strangles. Fifty-four other horses in the barn were then quarantined and evaluated. Four tested positive or were suspect for strangles, said Joe Gorajec, executive director of the Indiana Racing Commission.

Officials with Jacobs Investments and the Maryland Jockey Club announced Friday at Pimlico Race Course that a sweep of the four races that comprise the newly formed Grand Slam of Grass series will be worth $10 million within five years.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Rodeo's Castle, who ran the biggest race of his career last weekend in the $75,000 Ford Express at Lone Star Park, could move to one of racing's biggest stages next month. His owner, Byron House 3rd, is contemplating a start at Belmont Park in the Grade 2, $200,000 True North Breeders' Cup on the Belmont Stakes undercard June 11.

"Belmont might be something fun to shoot at," he said.