There awaits the spine-tingling buzz of running a horse before thousands of mint julep-sodden fans on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs. There is also the chance to test the horse against an excellent field of Grade 2 sprinters. But for trainer Bubba Cascio, the reason for sending Gold Storm to the Churchill Downs Handicap on Saturday in Louisville instead of waiting for the Ford Express Stakes at Lone Star comes down to that great motivator - money.

"It's $200,000 there versus $75,000 here," Cascio said Wednesday morning.

Defending champion Ellens Lucky Star makes her first start of the year in Friday's $40,000 Shelby County at Indiana Downs.

A field of nine Indiana-bred fillies and mares was entered for the six-furlong Shelby County. The race was one of two stakes victories in 2004 for Ellens Lucky Star, who also scored in the Richmond at Hoosier Park in October. A 6-year-old daughter of Crown Ambassador, Ellens Lucky Star has a record of 9-3-4 from 19 career starts, good for $205,105 in earnings for her owner-breeder, Royal Ten Racing.

First Comment, winner of the 2004 East Juvenile Challenge, heads the first of two trials to the Grade 3 Bayer Legend East Derby Challenge on Friday night at Delta Downs.

The horses with the 10 fastest times from Friday's trials qualify for the finals on May 22, part of MBNA East Challenge Night with five Challenge stakes races.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Jamey Thomas will be unable to enter horses for 15 days after a second horse he trains tested above the permitted level for carbon dioxide, an indication of the presence of alkalizing agents. The horse, Tech Two, finished third in a $6,250 claimer on April 27.

The decision was announced Wednesday by the testing review committee, a group charged with penalizing trainers whose horses test positive for alkalizing agents.

If you think picking the Kentucky Derby winner is difficult, take a look at Friday's eighth race at Calder, the GTOBA Oaks, a $50,000, 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies who are progeny of Georgia Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association-nominated sires.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dave the Knave, a prospect for the June 26 Queen's Plate, will launch his 3-year-old campaign against older rivals in Friday's second race at Woodbine, a six-furlong Ontario sire allowance.

Friday's nine-race card will mark the introduction of 20-cent superfecta wagers on Woodbine's live racing. The bet will be available through all self-serve terminals, with a minimum of five combinations per ticket.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Enough Is Enough is scheduled to take his first step on the road to the $1 million Queen's Plate here in Saturday's Queenston Stakes.

But trainer Steve Attard, who owns Enough Is Enough along with John Milloy and Sheldon Pettle, said that he will not get caught up in the Plate fever that annually manifests itself among the connections of some Queen's Plate hopefuls.

"We have to think about a Plate as a long-term target," said Attard. "I'm not going to get too excited, too soon.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - There should be a lively pace in Friday's featured seventh race, a first-level allowance race for fillies and mares, because all four inside horses prefer the front end.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The stakes win that has eluded the talented Solar Echo may finally arrive in Friday's $62,000 Tuzla Stakes at Hollywood Park.

The Tuzla is the top race on a program that begins at 1:20 p.m. Pacific. It's the only Friday afternoon program of the spring-summer meeting.

The Tuzla marks Solar Echo's third stakes appearance. She was second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks in August 2003 and the Wishing Well Handicap on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita in January.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Friday's feature is a five-furlong turf affair for either horses who have not won an allowance or a stakes on the grass or have not won three races in their career. The field of 10 shoots for a $26,000 purse, and most of the entrants are horses sporting solid dirt form who will try to translate their recent success to the grass.