MIAMI - Alix M has quickly risen to the top of the local filly and mare handicap division and as a result was assigned high weight of 120 pounds for Friday's $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap. Northern invaders Ebony Breeze and Pop Princess may prove the ones to beat, however, in the seven-furlong Chaposa Springs, which track management moved forward one day on the calendar so it would be run during 2004 and maintain its Grade 3 status.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park will implement pre-race testing for sodium bicarbonate levels during the upcoming 2005 meeting. The testing is meant to detect the practice of milkshaking, which is the administration of sodium bicarbonate, typically through a tube, directly into a horse's stomach. A milkshake is generally considered a performance enhancer.

The testing will be funded by Gulfstream Park and the Florida division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said FHBPA president Linda Mills.

MIAMI - Trainers who came to south Florida this winter with a barn full of grass horses may be breathing just a little bit easier after Gulfstream Park's new turf course passed its first real test with flying colors Wednesday morning.

Trainer Layne Giliforte is serious about expanding his stable's reach. He traveled 1,200 miles from his Fort Erie base in Canada this fall to set up a 12-horse division at Delta Downs in Vinton, La. He also has a string of 18 horses at Tampa Bay Downs in Florida and next month will set up a two-horse division at Oaklawn Park to test the waters in Hot Springs, Ark.

None of this will impact operations in Canada. Giliforte, a six-time title winner at Fort Erie, said he even has plans to move a greater number of horses into Woodbine in Toronto when that meet opens in May.

CHICAGO - The horses have not all galloped south for the winter. There are 12 in Chicago for Hawthorne's featured eighth race on New Year's Eve, the third-from-last program of the winter meet here.

ALBANY, Calif. - Friday's Golden Gate Fields feature looks like a replay of a race held Dec. 8.

Four of the six fillies entered in the $50,000 optional claimer at six furlongs met Dec. 8.

Luisathebeachhouse ran second behind Yerevan Star that day and finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Beezer, whom she had dead-heated with for the win in her previous start. Beezer was a nose in front of Princess Lianna on Dec. 8, with My Charmian three lengths behind in fifth.

Friday will be the third start off a layoff for both Luisathebeachhouse and Princess Lianna.

When the ballots are cast to determine the 2004 champion Quarter Horses next week, there will be fewer voters trying to distinguish between a larger number of horses on the ballot than in previous years.

The changes were proposed in June by a task force of horsemen, media members, and racing officials who met in Dallas, and in November, the proposal was approved by the American Quarter Horse Association's racing committee and racing council.

Evangeline Downs opened its new one-mile track for training Wednesday morning, and early reports suggest it might be a faster surface than the old seven-furlong site in Carencro, La.

Evangeline, which installed slot machines in December 2003, has moved its operations to Opelousas. It is the first racetrack and casino to be built from the ground up, according to officials with Evangeline.

Two turns is the next frontier for Cajun Pepper, who improved to 5 for 5 with his 4 1/4-length win in the Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park last Sunday. The race was the first stakes start against open company for Cajun Pepper, whose five wins have come by a combined 27 3/4 lengths.

"He's doing good. He came back 100 percent," said trainer Ramon O. Gonzalez.

When Russell Baze traveled to Phoenix to keep the mount on Lost in the Fog, an up-and-coming 2-year-old based in northern California, it should have clued people in.

Even if it did, though, no one could have expected what would transpire in Sunday's $50,000 Arizona Juvenile. All Lost in the Fog did was win by 15 lengths, geared down, and set a track record of 1:13.55 for the 6 1/2 furlongs, earning a 109 Beyer. That eclipsed the old mark of 1:13.80, set by Arizona-circuit legend G Malleah in 1994.