Churchill Downs Inc. has sent a letter to the Jockeys' Guild requesting information on what the Guild has done with millions of dollars paid by racetracks to the organization over the last several years.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Chips Are Down may have earned a start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity on Dec. 18 with a hard-fought victory in a $39,000 allowance race at Hollywood Park on Friday.

Scoring his first victory against winners, Chips Are Down stalked pacesetter Spanish Chestnut to early stretch and pulled clear in the final 100 yards to win by three-quarters of a length. Rene Douglas rode Chips Are Down.

ALBANY, Calif. - A pair of lightly raced fillies coming off impressive victories will draw most of the betting attention in Sunday's Golden Gate Fields feature.

Miss High Brow, a 3-year-old who won her debut in wire-to-wire style, and 4-year-old Aisle Light, a wire-to-wire winner in the second start of her career, are the two to beat in a six-furlong, first-level allowance race for fillies and mares.

With the presence of speedsters Kiss Kiss Kiss and Mango Escapade in the race, it's likely Miss High Brow and Aisle Light will have to come off the pace.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's $163,350 Ontario Lassie Stakes could be the coming-out party for Silver Impulse, one of the best claims made at Woodbine this year.

Silver Impulse was snatched up for $62,500 by trainer Stanley Baresich off a third-place finish in her July 2 debut. She subsequently hit the board in a pair of maiden-special-weight dashes before running third in the seven-furlong Muskoka Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine's optional claiming races in the maiden and conditioned categories have been the subject of much backstretch discussion since being introduced this spring.

The claiming prices for the maiden, nonwinners-of-two, and nonwinners-of-three optional claiming races were tinkered with throughout the season.

After starting out with $50,000 and $25,000 prices, the races were offered at the $32,000 range before eventually settling back in at the $25,000 level.

NEW ORLEANS - Candid Glen looked better than ever Thursday, when he returned from a 15-month layoff to beat a sprint allowance field at 7 1/2 furlongs over the Fair Grounds grass course.

A 7-year-old gelding by El Gran Senor, Candid Glen was so primed to run that he tracked the pacesetters in third to the top of the stretch rather than employ his usual come-from-behind style. Candid Glen turned in his usual powerful stretch run, forging to the lead at the quarter pole, and easily holding off Justlikedawg through the lane.

MIAMI - The American Graded Stakes Committee's decision earlier this week to downgrade the Chaposa Springs Handicap from a Grade 3 race to ungraded status in 2005 has resulted in a change in the stakes schedule for the final weekend of the current Tropical-at-Calder meeting.

The Chaposa Springs is listed as a Grade 3 event on the stakes schedule for the 2004-05 Tropical session and was one of four stakes to be decided on the

STICKNEY, Ill. - Hawthorne's fleet of tractors stands ready to roll 24 hours a day. In December, keeping the track surface in racing condition can require intensive overtime.

In the last 10 days, Hawthorne has lost three days of training and a half-day of racing - and that's not bad. Chicago has settled into a pattern of freeze-and-thaw, freeze-and-thaw. A little more than an inch of snow fell a week ago, adding another layer of complexity to the job of holding the surface together.

Hecamefromaclaim will be returning from a three-month layoff for the $125,000 Challenger Six Handicap for New Mexico-breds at Sunland Park, but the class move he makes for the 870-yard race erases concern about his lack of recency. It is the first stakes of the Sunland meet, featuring Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds.

Angelica Slew can become the latest filly to flatter Yearly Report, if she defeats 13 others in the $40,000 Lady's Secret at Remington Park in Oklahoma City on Sunday. The seven-furlong race for fillies and mares will close out the meet.

Angelica Slew last raced on Oct. 29, finishing third to Yearly Report in the $150,000 Stonerside at Lone Star Park. Yearly Report won that seven-furlong race by 9 1/4 lengths, and covered the distance in a track-record 1:20.60.