CHICAGO - Silver Bid has won seven of his last 10 starts, has won the last two Illinois-bred sprint stakes run in Chicago, and stands tall among statebred sprinters. The four horses that will challenge him Saturday at Hawthorne in the Chicagoland Handicap have combined to win 23 races; Silver Bid himself has won 16.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Several horses that were fringe players on the Triple Crown trail but who probably prefer shorter distances are scheduled to meet in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Withers Stakes.

, the Gotham Stakes winner and Wood Memorial runner-up, Proud Accolade, last year's Champagne winner, and B. B. Best, the third-place finisher in the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby head the list of eight 3-year-olds set to run in the Withers's one-turn mile over Aqueduct's main track.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Midweek rain in the New York area and the prospect of more for the weekend could be a welcome development for Changing World in the $100,000 Beaugay Handicap Saturday at Aqueduct.

loves a turf course with some give. Her last victory was a front-running score in the Grade 3 Violet Handicap at The Meadowlands over a good course on Oct. 22.

The 5-year-old Changing World could get her preferred course in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Beaugay for fillies and mares, provided the showers do not wash the race onto the main track.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Winning a graded stakes race for the first time at age 6 might not seem like much of an achievement, but considering that Alumni Hall did not even get to the races until he was 5, and has a pedigree that should serve him well as a stallion prospect, his victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 on Thursday at Keeneland was cause for celebration.

AUBURN, Wash. - Diamond View will head a field of nine older sprinters, each eligible to be claimed for $22,500 to $25,000, who will contest Saturday's Emerald Downs feature at six furlongs.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Graded stakes winners Summer Symphony and See Me Through will make their 4-year-old debuts in the feature race at Hastings Saturday, a $75,000 optional claiming race for fillies and mares that drew seven horses.

CALGARY, Alberta - Saturday's $50,000 Stampede Park Sprint Championship promises to be highly competitive with six stakes winners in the field of seven.

Deputy Country, Alberta's champion sprinter of 2004 as well as the province's horse of the year, is highweighted at 121 pounds but had his reputation sullied somewhat in the Sprint prep April 16.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Mauk Four continues his remarkably prolific 2005 campaign here Saturday when he heads the field for the $50,000 Alliance Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile turf headliner drew a field of eight and will be run as the 11th race on a 12-race program on the first Saturday of the new season.

The top three finishers from last month's Runza Handicap meet again in the $25,000 Al Swihart Memorial Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs in a race that could well decide the honors for top filly or mare of the Fonner Park meet.

Burning Memories, Up 'n Blumin, and Princess of Holme should all receive their due respect in the field of 10.

Burning Memories won this race in 2003 and was runner-up a year ago. She was third in the Runza in her only start so far this year. Mike Ziegler will ride for trainer Jim Cranwell at 120 pounds from post 8.

The Great Tyler could prove to be the one to beat when a field of nine Ohio-bred fillies and mares match strides over six furlongs in the $40,000 Angenora Stakes at Thistledown.

The Great Tyler, a 4-year-old daughter of Doneraile Court, will be making her first start since Oct. 9 but trained well for Miguel Feliciano at Tampa Bay Downs over the winter. She will likely set the pace under Ricardo Feliciano.