OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Saturday's $75,000 Broadway Handicap would have been the ideal spot for trainer Richard Dutrow to bring Sugar Punch back to the races. But Sugar Punch, an undefeated New York-bred filly, is still recovering from knee surgery and won't be ready for a few more months.

So, Dutrow has gone to his bench for Gold Like U, who brings a two-race winning streak into the Broadway, for New York-bred fillies and mares. Originally scheduled to be run at seven furlongs on the main track, the Broadway will be run at six furlongs over the inner track.

Latenite Special, a leading 3-year-old filly in New Mexico last year, may establish herself as the best older filly or mare in the state with a win in the $100,000 Sydney V. Handicap at Sunland Park. Latenite Special faces 11 rivals in the one-mile event for statebred fillies and mares.

Claimed for what turned out to be a bargain price of $10,000 in her 2004 debut, Latenite Special later won three stakes and placed second in another, and ended the year with earnings exceeding $142,000.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Del Mar has increased the purses of three major stakes and moved one stakes from the main track to turf for its upcoming meeting, which runs from July 20 to Sept. 7.

The meeting offers 29 major stakes worth a record total of $6,675,000.

The Grade 2 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap over a mile has been switched to turf and will be worth $350,000, an increase of $100,000 from 2004. In recent years, the race has struggled to draw a decent field on the main track. The change is designed to draw from the strong cast of turf milers in Southern California.

The local queen has temporarily abdicated her position for the sake of perpetuating her lineage. So with Golden Marlin away at the breeding shed, favoritism in Saturday's $50,000 Wintergreen Stakes at Turfway Park probably will be split between Tempus Fugit and Plaid, two of the nine fillies and mares entered in the race.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Bettors will be faced with the classic choice between a live speedball and a tough late closer when the front-running Above the Wind faces late-running Super Frolic in the $65,000 Budweiser Challenge Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday.

has won 2 of his last 3 starts and led until the final furlong in the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Breeders' Cup Stakes last time out.

Richetta hasn't won a seven-furlong race in 16 months and was far back throughout her most recent start at the distance three weeks ago. But because she's taking a steep drop in class, Richetta figures prominently in Saturday's $50,000 Conniver Stakes at Laurel Park.

The seven-furlong Conniver, restricted to Maryland-bred fillies and mares, is also the first leg of the Magna 5.

STICKNEY, Ill. - The Flag Officer Stakes was scheduled as a prep for the Grade 2 Illinois Derby, but the race might boil down to a battle of the Illinois-breds.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dance With Ravens, winner of the Grade 2 Grey Stakes at Woodbine in his only start on the main track last year, has been made the 3-1 winter-book favorite for the 146th running of the $1 million Queen's Plate on June 26.

Woodbine oddsmaker Jennifer Morrison compiled the winter book, a hypothetical annual exercise that lists odds for all of the 173 horses currently nominated for the Queen's Plate, the 1 1/4-mile race that is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds.

There are a number of reasons why Believe Im Special should be much closer to the pace than usual on Saturday night in the $50,000 Bayou State for Louisiana-breds at Delta Downs.

For one, he will be stretching out around two turns for the 6 1/2-furlong Bayou State. Believe Im Special will also be racing in blinkers for the first time in his 34-race career, and in his most recent work he drilled three furlongs from the gate in a bullet 35.20 seconds on March 5.

Trainer Al Stall Jr. will have starters in Oaks races at two tracks on Saturday. Enduring Will goes in the Grade 2, $300,000 Fair Grounds Oaks in New Orleans, while the undefeated Thunderdoll will get her first crack at stakes company in the $40,000 Sam Houston Oaks at Sam Houston Race Park.

Thunderdoll will take on six others in the one-mile race at Sam Houston, including Timber Jones, Angela Marjorie, and Ms Seneca Rock, the first three finishers in the $125,000 Two Altazano division of the Texas Stallion Stakes series at one mile on Feb. 19.