ALBANY, Calif. - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer hopes to start 2005 with a repeat of one of his feats of 2004.

Horses trained by Hollendorfer ran one-two in seven northern California stakes in 2004, including the Forty-Niner Handicap here on Nov. 26, when the uncoupled Yougottawanna beat Adreamisborn by a neck.

Hollendorfer will send out co-highweights Adreamisborn and Yougottawanna against three rivals on Saturday in the $75,000-added Lafayette Handicap. The one-mile race, originally carded for the turf, will be run on the main track.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will usher in the new year with a pair of intriguing events for 3-year-olds on Saturday, when racing resumes on a Saturday-Sunday-Monday schedule that will continue until the meeting ends on April 24.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With his older stars Evening Attire and Riskaverse on vacation in Florida, trainer Pat Kelly is trying to figure out what do to next with his potential New York-bred stars Pelham Bay and Naughty New Yorker.

Three impressive out-of-towners will try to thwart Seeyoubychance in his bid to win three in a row in Saturday's $50,000 Dancing Count for 3-year-old sprinters at Pimlico.

Seeyoubychance, winner of the H.S. Mitchell on Dec. 4 and an optional claiming sprint two starts ago, figures to have his hands full in the six-furlong Dancing Count against graded stakes winner Primal Storm, Florida shipper Hesa Big Star, and Penn National-based speedster More Smoke.

CHICAGO - The broodmare Scarlet Gal, standing on some rural patch of ground, could have pumped up her chest with pride. Not one but two of her offspring won races at Hawthorne on Wednesday afternoon.

Scarlet Splash, a 3-year-old daughter of Scarlet Gal, paid $54 after she rallied from ninth to win the third race, a $10,000 maiden-claiming sprint. Less than two hours later, Scarlet Splash's 2-year-old sister, Discreet Gal, led all the way to win her maiden in an Illinois-bred route race.

A brother in the family, Scarlet Lad, won a lower-level claiming race here last week.

NEW ORLEANS - G P Fleet manhandled a good field last week in an optional claiming race that was washed off the turf, beating the resurgent Candid Glen going away. He has now won three in a row, including the Grade 3 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs.

"G P Fleet is probably the best horse I brought down here," said Kentucky-based trainer Steve Flint, who shipped in 26 horses for the Fair Grounds meet. "I had some other good ones up there but I didn't want to take up space here if I don't run."

Some trainers shy away from claiming old racehorses. Trainer Bernie Flint has made a living out of it.

In the fall of 2003, he claimed Ask the Lord for $62,500 for his LTB Inc. stable and owner R.A. Williams, and the horse has since amassed earnings of over $256,000. Then last summer he claimed Discreet Hero, taking him for $40,000. That horse closed out 2004 with two stakes victories, earning Beyer Speed Figures of 109 and 107 in them.

Dixie Talking didn't even make her career debut until December. But she heads into 2005 as a stakes winner.

Stretching out to 1 1/16 miles after winning her maiden in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint on Dec. 8, Dixie Talking ($8.40) defeated 3-5 favorite Take a Check by 1 1/4 lengths in Thursday's $100,000 at Pimlico.

Trained by Robin Graham, Dixie Talking covered the distance on a fast track in 1:47.71.

It was the 11th stakes victory of the year at Pimlico or Laurel for jockey Abel Castellano Jr., one more than Ryan Fogelsonger.

Willie Belmonte, a jockey and trainer at various East Coast tracks for the past 15 years, died Wednesday in Charles Town, W.Va.

Belmonte, 38, a son of former New York-based jockey Eddie Belmonte, was found to have cancer several months ago.

Although it's fairly common for jockeys to become trainers once their riding careers are over, Belmonte did just the opposite. He began training in 1989 and won 666 races until switching to riding in 2002.

Bernie Thurman and Mike Ziegler will head the management team that will run Bay Meadows when its meet begins on Feb. 2, announced Jack Liebau, president of the Bay Meadows Racing Association. This will be the first meet to be conducted by the association, which owns the track and was granted the racing dates for 2005 over Magna Entertainment Corp., which had been leasing the track and running the racing operation.