AUBURN, Wash. - Big things were expected of rider Mick Ruis when he arrived at Emerald Downs after successful stints in Southern California and Arizona, but he began the meet with just three wins from his first 38 mounts.

Ruis heated up with three more wins from 10 mounts last Friday and Saturday, however, and he caught fire with five wins from 10 mounts on Sunday.

Ruis, who is just 18, became the 10th rider to win five races on a single card at Emerald. Only Kevin Radke has won six, a feat he accomplished in 2002.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When is a track bias really not a track bias?

Handicappers should always monitor horses who ran with and against the grain of a track bias when they return to action, to make sure that they labeled the bias accurately in the first place. After all, a misjudged bias can be costly when future handicapping decisions are made.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Eight older fillies and mares are set to run in Friday's featured seventh race at Assiniboia, a second-level allowance/optional $16,000 claimer at five furlongs.

Lt. Regent, Maui Money, and Initial Approach exit an allowance race run on opening day, where they faced the best local older fillies and mares.

Lt. Regent fared the best of the three, finishing third, 4 1/2 lengths behind winner, Siberian Falstaff.

Maui Money was fifth and only beat Initial Approach, who faded badly.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The theory of "seconditis" will be put to the test here in Friday's feature.

The six-furlong race, a second-level allowance with an optional claiming price of $62,500, contains at least a couple of entrants who seem much more likely to fill out the place rather than the win position.

Take Choreography, a 5-year-old gelding who has won five of 27 career outings but finished second on no fewer than 11 occasions.

ALBANY, Calif. - Like the perfect storm, there was a perfect confluence of timing, location, and opportunity that will allow Lost in the Fog to run at his home track, Golden Gate Fields, in the $150,000 Golden Bear Breeders' Cup Stakes on Saturday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Cool Reception, who is regarded as one of the best Canadian racehorses of all time, is one of this year's Thoroughbred racing inductees into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Cool Reception, who died two days after his second-place finish to Damascus in the 1967 Belmont, was honored along with Norcliffe and owner, breeder, and racetrack executive David Willmot as one of three inductees from Thoroughbred racing at a formal ceremony here at the Hall of Fame site Wednesday.

A minor ailment will prevent promising 3-year-old filly Round Pond from running in next week's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico.

According to information posted on the website rockportharbor.com, which contains items from Fox Hill Farms owner Rick Porter, Round Pond developed a slight fever shortly after returning to Philadelphia Park from Oaklawn Park, where she began her career by winning 3 of 4 starts, including two stakes.

Canterbury Park set a record for opening day attendance Saturday, when 16,237 fans came through the turnstiles to watch the simulcast of the Kentucky Derby and the first day of live racing. The attendance was the highest reported since the track reintroduced live racing under the Sampson family's management in 1995.

* Last year's leading trainer, Mac Robertson, began where he left off, winning three races on the opening-day card for the powerhouse Kissoon Thoroughbred connections.

Since Louisiana Downs began its season a couple of weeks ago in Bossier City, a thrilling chase in the rider standings has calmed down a little, but the race is still tight. After beginning their seasons here, Guy Smith, Gerard Melancon, Tracy Hebert, and Jerri Nicholas all shifted their tacks to Louisiana Downs to thin the ranks a bit, but heading into this week's action, only three wins separate the top four spots in the standings.

At most tracks, if attendance spiked and live handle did not, an auditor might pull his hair out. Not so at Fairmount Park, where management is committed to drawing the younger generation to the races whether they bet or not. Fairmount's formula? Cheap liquor, hot wings, and rock and roll.