Max Forever and Private Lap, separated by only a nose when they ran one-two in last year's one-mile Quick Card Stakes, are among 11 entrants for Saturday's running of the $50,000 stakes at Delaware Park. But Private Lap may be scratched and neither he nor Max Forever look as if they can handle the two horses that form a potent entry for owner Mike Gill, greatly dimming any excitement about a possible rematch.

MIAMI - Grass horses are usually resilient and can be territorial as well. A case in point is the 8-year-old True Love's Secret, who returns to his favorite course as the one to beat in Saturday's $40,000 Reappeal Stakes at Calder. A dozen grass specialists will run in the five-furlong overnight turf stakes.

Two Corona Special and Finding Nemo head the Grade 1, $262,900 Kindergarten on Saturday night at Los Alamitos after posting the two fastest times in trials. Each was making just his second career start.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Trainer Ralph Biamonte has some misgivings about having entered his $400,000-plus earner, Clubay, in Saturday's $22,000 allowance feature at Fort Erie.

Biamonte, who has a split stable of 20 horses at Woodbine and 15 at Fort Erie, fears that Clubay may suffer the same fate as her Woodbine stablemate, Wild Willard, on Monday.

Wild Willard, at odds of 3-5 with Woodbine rider David Clark aboard, finished third in Monday's five-furlong feature race at Fort Erie, beaten by six lengths by the winner, Rundle.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mister Coop was the first winner for trainer Danny Vella in his new role as a public trainer, scoring impressively at five furlongs here on opening day.

Now Vella will be looking to make Mister Coop a stakes winner here in Saturday's featured New Providence, a six-furlong race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.

"I certainly feel we're very competitive," said Vella, looking over the field for the New Providence. "There are a bunch of nice horses. A few could be tough, but there are no standouts."

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Tuesday night in Chicago was idyllic. The air felt like summer, without summer's swelter. It was an entirely different city 15 hours later. The wind whipped from the north, the temperature struggling to hit 50 degrees Wednesday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Rene Douglas didn't even try to hide his wistfulness. From his home in Southern California, where he is one of the leading riders on a glamourous racing circuit, he still pined for the Illinois prairie.

For four years at Arlington Park, Douglas was king. In 2001 he showed up on the track doorstep - little-known in these parts - and won more races than anyone else that summer and the next three. In 2002, Douglas equaled a record for stakes wins at Arlington. His career, static and unfocused when he first arrived, had found a direction.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Miss Terrible began her career in Argentina, and then almost disappeared from the map. But after two and a half tortured years, Miss Terrible has won two straight graded stakes races, showing why she was a champion in her native country, and making a name for her obscure trainer, Bradley Ross.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Forest Danger, winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct last month, breezed five furlongs on Belmont's main track Wednesday as he continues preparations for the $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap on May 30.

Forest Danger was timed in 1:00.67, the fifth-fastest of 15 workouts at the distance.

Among those also expected to run in the Met Mile is Ghostzapper, the defending Horse of the Year who has not started since winning the Breeders' Cup Classic last fall.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The breeze blowing in from the nearby Atlantic Ocean will have a chillier bite and sweaters will probably outnumber tank tops by a wide margin when Monmouth Park reopens Saturday.

Monmouth will abandon the traditional Memorial Day weekend opener for an early launch of the New Jersey Thoroughbred season.

Like the first buds of the season, the return of racing to the Jersey shore stirs feelings of optimism.