CHICAGO - Late April of his 5-year-old season, and Badge of Silver still has only raced 10 times. Never has the horse wanted for brilliance. It is a lack of continuity that has dogged Badge of Silver.

Saturday, Chicagoans get a firsthand look at , the headliner with jockey Jerry Bailey in a five-horse field scheduled to start in the Grade 3, $250,000 National Jockey Club Handicap. The NJC 'Cap goes as the seventh race, immediately followed by the Grade 3 Sixty Sails, another nine-furlong dirt race, this one for older females.

CHICAGO - Saturday's Grade 3, $250,000 Sixty Sails Handicap at Hawthorne hit a sweet spot on the national racing calendar, drawing a seven-horse field that is stronger and deeper than was expected.

Contested at 1 1/8 miles on dirt, the Sixty Sails has shippers from California, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania, not to mention the horse they will all have to catch, the locally based Injustice.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - When her mind is focused on racing, Mea Domina can be brilliant.

But she has been a project for trainer Ron McAnally and his staff.

Fortunately, Mea Domina has been on her best behavior in recent starts, having won two allowance races during the Santa Anita meeting. She will try for a third consecutive win in Saturday's $100,000 Wilshire Handicap at a mile on turf at Hollywood Park.

is likely to go favored in a competitive Wilshire, which drew nine fillies and mares.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - When Castledale and Terroplane last met, they were promising 2-year-olds making their U.S. debuts in the Grade 3 Generous Stakes.

Now 4-year-olds, they renew their rivalry in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 on turf at Bay Meadows.

Since Castledale defeated Terroplane in the Generous, he has pulled off a 30-1 upset in the Santa Anita Derby, finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby, and returned from a subsequent layoff to run three better-than-looked races this year.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wholelottabourbon, Canada's reigning champion 2-year-old, will launch his 3-year-old campaign Saturday at Woodbine in the $134,375 Woodstock Stakes.

The six-furlong Woodstock contains just five other 3-year-olds, including winter-raced contenders Promontory and What's Up Dude.

Wholelottabourbon, a quick chestnut trained by Nick Gonzalez, has won 4 of 5 outings, including a trio of stakes. His only loss came when he ran second in the Victoria Stakes to Flamenco, who went on to place in several graded stakes at Saratoga.

AUBURN, Wash. - An intriguing band of eight older sprinters, each eligible to be claimed for $15,000, will vie over six furlongs in Saturday's best race at Emerald Downs.

Four of the eight runners are eligible for a straight nonwinners-of-two, with only a maiden win to their credit, and two more have won twice, but Scr Top Player has won three races and Mr. Melcap has won 12.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Regal Red, who was never threatened in any of her five stakes wins in 2004, could face a serious challenge from a very fast Pretty Meadow in the $40,000 Strawberry Morn Stakes at Hastings Saturday.

Socorro County, Le Belle Fleur, and Overact round out the field in the 6 1/2-furlong race.

Regal Red, owned by Linwood Stables, dominated the 3-year-old filly division at Hastings last year. She rang up five consecutive stakes wins, by an average margin of 5 1/2 lengths, and she was never set down in the stretch in any of them.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Texcess's chances of starting in the Triple Crown ended with a last-place finish in the Lane's End Stakes at Turfway Park in late March.

The performance was his third consecutive loss and led trainer Paul Aguirre to lower his expectations. The Kentucky Derby was out, and Sunday's $250,000 Snow Chief Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds at Holly-wood Park became an early spring goal.

For Aguirre, a brief run on the Triple Crown trail was an eye-opening experience.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A to the Z, the winner of the California Cup Mile last fall, will skip Sunday's $150,000 Khaled Stakes at Hollywood Park in favor of the $400,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 7.

Trainer Paula Capestro said A to the Z must be supplemented for $20,000 to the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve, one of the nation's top turf races of the spring.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Among his many talents as a Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott has fared especially well with young grass horses. That knack was on full display again Thursday when Mott sent out Gun Salute to a 2 1/2-length score in the $110,500 on the Keeneland turf course.