OPELOUSAS, La. - Slot machine-racetrack combinations are not a new idea, but Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino is unusual in more than one respect. It is the first racino to have been built from the ground up, and management has taken a different kind of approach to this symbiotic relationship between games of chance and the Sport of Kings.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Roger Attfield's barn was cold at Gulfstream but started to heat up at the Keeneland meeting.

Now Attfield is back in full force at Woodbine, with his maximum allotment of 45 stalls filled to capacity.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Classy Flower, victorious for a $35,000 claiming tag in her first appearance at the Woodbine meeting, attempts to double up against $50,000 opposition going six furlongs on Thursday.

After finishing second here for $12,500 on the final day of the 2004 meeting, Classy Flower spent the winter at Tampa Bay Downs with trainer John Simms. She proceeded to record three consecutive runner-up placings there, including in a $25,000 optional claimer going 1 1/16 miles March 26.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Bernie Flint hadn't attended a post position draw for any of his horses in two years but said he was in the Churchill Downs racing office Wednesday morning when they pulled the pills for Friday's Grade 1 "to bring a little luck."

The New York Racing Association, facing an uncertain future, will celebrate its glorious past while taking unprecedented steps to ensure the integrity of its present when the Belmont Park spring meet opens Wednesday.

Ontrack business at the Keeneland spring meet was the second-highest in track history, behind only last year's record average, while the track's all-sources handle dipped 9.3 percent, primarily because Keeneland refused to accept bets from some high-volume wagering outlets.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Sis City stands ready. With a five-furlong workout Sunday at Churchill Downs, she has completed her serious preparation for the 131st Kentucky Oaks, for which she will be a heavy favorite Friday.

With exercise rider Michelle Nevin aboard, Sis City breezed in an easy 1:02, prompting trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. to pronounce her fully prepared.

"She is on her game," said Dutrow, who was in for the work before returning soon afterward to New York. "I think that's the best she's ever breezed. She loves this track, loves it."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Judging by the overwhelmingly favorable reaction to the Churchill Downs renovation, the weekend that took 3 1/2 years to arrive was very much worth the wait.

The thousands of fans who filed into the track on opening weekend were generous in their praise of a new facility that melds the treasured history of a 130-year-old landmark with a state-of-the-art clubhouse.

CALGARY, Alberta - Chief Mtn captured the $50,000 Stampede Park Sprint Championship here Saturday under Frank Gonsalves, holding off Rindanica to win by three-quarters of a length.

Gonsalves, in his first season on this circuit, had Chief Mtn in perfect position through the first turn, just outside Fly Esteem. Chief Mtn ran through a rapid quarter of 22.60 seconds and seized the advantage after a half in 45.40. Chief Mtn went on to finish in 1:10 and paid $6.80 for the win.

Five years ago, Richard Migliore wondered how much longer he could continue to ride.

He was recuperating from a broken arm suffered in a spill at Belmont Park in July of 1999, and the fight to make weight was agony.

"I was coming off being hurt, and it was tough getting my weight where I wanted it to be," Migliore said. "I thought, 'I only have a few more years left. This is too much of a struggle.' " The way he feels now, retirement is the furthest thing from his mind.