INGLEWOOD, Calif. - After a more thorough scouting of the competition, trainer Bobby Frankel reversed course on Wednesday and entered Cajun Beat for Friday's $150,000 Hollywood Turf Express at Hollywood Park.

The presence of Cajun Beat, the 2003 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner, adds depth to an already intriguing 5 1/2-furlong race.

Frankel's decision was partially based on the absence of Kentucky stakes winner Battle Won, who was considered a candidate for the Turf Express but will instead start in a sprint in Hong Kong in December.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin would prefer not to run two of his best horses against each other, but the conditions of Friday's $150,000 Top Flight Handicap at Aqueduct fit Bending Strings and Roar Emotion so well he can't leave either one in the barn.

Now, it's up to handicappers to figure out which one suits the Grade 2, one-mile race the best.

"If you told me to pick one or the other I couldn't. Both are doing great," McLaughlin said.

NEW ORLEANS - Monkey Hill, a grassy mound in the Audubon Zoo, is the highest spot in the city of New Orleans. Its namesake, a 3-year-old chestnut colt owned by Marc and Jill Winston, will attempt to climb a notch through the allowance ranks Friday at Fair Grounds in the feature race, a $30,000 six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up.

Marc Winston used to play on Monkey Hill when he was a kid.

"It's a famous spot in New Orleans at the zoo, where they built an artificial hill so the kids of New Orleans would know what a hill looked like," said Winston.

PORTLAND, Ore. - A full field of 12 older runners will contest Friday?s $10,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Portland Meadows.

ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Doug O'Neill had one of the stars of last year's Golden Gate Fields meet with Skipaslew, who went from the claiming ranks to the Triple Crown trail.

The Southern California-based O'Neill sends Skipaslew back to Golden Gate Fields for Friday's $75,000-added Forty-Niner Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race with a field of nine.

was an unknown when he won the Gold Rush here last year. He then won the Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby before running seventh at 2-1 in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - An extremely competitive running of Friday's Grade 3 Miesque Stakes became twice as good on Wednesday morning. Sixteen 2-year-old fillies were entered in the one-mile grass race, so Hollywood Park racing secretary Martin Panza divided the race into a pair of eight-horse fields with $75,000 purses.

Fourteen European newcomers are expected to make their American debuts at the Autumn Turf Festival at Hollywood Park this weekend, eight starting for the first time for their new American trainers. Six are listed as trained by European trainers, and five of those will be turned over to American trainers after the Festival. The one scheduled for a return trans-Atlantic trip is Mingun, who will go back to Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle yard after his run in the Citation Handicap.

Friday

Trainer Mike Biehler is 1 for 1 in graded stakes after sending out Wally's Choice to a 33-1 upset in the Grade 3, $167,000 Oklahoma Derby on Sunday. The win was Biehler's seventh in a stakes in 2004 and helped lift him to his best year in stable earnings.

Wally's Choice has won four stakes this year and closed from last to first in the Oklahoma Derby.

"He came back good," said Biehler. "We had planned on turning him out after that race, but I'm not sure what we'll do right now. The owners were out of the country, and I hadn't talked to them yet."

Post could be the deciding factor Friday night when front-runners Mr. Excellent and Blazing Exploit start as the top two choices in the $40,000 Delta Beau for 2-year-olds at Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

Mr. Excellent will break from post 6, two spots outside of Blazing Exploit. The draw could give Mr. Excellent's rider, Carlos Gonzalez, options, and that's a good thing for the colt, who is attempting to win his second straight stakes and his fourth race in five career starts.

Wind Twister has whirled through her conditions and will be looking for her fourth straight victory Friday when she takes on Malika's Gold in the $40,000 E.L. Gaylord Memorial at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. The 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies drew 12 starters.