ALBANY, Calif. - Jockey Frank Alvarado enjoyed one of the best days of his career Wednesday at Golden Gate Fields, winning with all five of his mounts.

Alvarado scored by a head with Dim Sum Gal ($8) in the first to start his big day. He also won with Song of the Bull ($5.20) in the third, Ifyouseekyouscore ($7.60) fourth, Simply Victorious ($8.60) sixth and Chinese Checkers ($6) in the seventh.

Each of the five mounts was for a different trainer, in order: Len Kasmerski, John F. Martin, Scott Craigmyle, Mark Hanna and Aggie Ordonez.

VINTON, La. - Texcess and Funk, who should rule as the top two betting choices in Saturday's $1 million at Delta Downs, drew side by side in the middle of the starting gate when entries for the race were pulled on Wednesday.

A few hours before the draw, it was announced that the Jackpot, which is the second richest race for 2-year-olds in North America, will have Grade 3 status for 2005. For this year's third running, 16 horses were entered but six were excluded. The maximum field size at Delta, which has a six-furlong oval, is 10.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Several longshots, including an improbable $172.60 winner, won races Wednesday at Hollywood Park, resulting in a carryover of $87,783 into Thursday's pick six.

Thursday's card is chock full of small fields, so handicappers should not need to go very deep in most races. Those who play small tickets might have a fighting chance.

Here is an overview of the pick six, which begins in the third race:

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - For the first 12 starts of his career, Taste of Paradise had just one trainer, John Sadler. Since then, though, he has caromed from barn to barn like a pinball. When he runs in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood Stakes at Hollywood Park, Taste of Paradise will be racing for his fourth different trainer in nine months.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Woodlass, an unlucky loser the first week of the meet here, gets an excellent chance to atone for that loss when she tops a field of older fillies and mares in Friday's $42,000 featured seventh race at Hollywood Park.

lost by a neck in a similar 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race on Nov. 4, but finished eight lengths in front of the third horse, Gold Player. A repeat of that performance would make the Craig Dollase trainee difficult to defeat.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Gary Contessa may not have the number of horses to match Richard Dutrow Jr., but he believes he has the stock to compete for leading trainer during Aqueduct's inner-track meet. Contessa has held that title for three of the last five years.

Contessa led the inner-track standings in wins in 1999-2000, 2001-02, and 2002-03. He was second in 2000-01 behind Juan Serey and fourth last year behind Dutrow.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Jennifer Pedersen believes the primary reason for her barn's success during the Aqueduct fall meet was that she was running fresh horses over their home track.

Pedersen, who went 8 for 32 during Aqueduct's main-track meeting, hopes that theory rings true during the inner-track meet. Song of the Sword fits the profile of a fresh horse who should enjoy returning to the inner track when he runs in Friday's featured $56,000 fourth-level allowance race, which is scheduled for a mile and 70 yards.

MIAMI - Trainer Bill White expected D'Wildcat Speed to run a big race in the Pocahontas Stakes at Calder on Thanksgiving Day, but he never expected her to win off by half a pole in what was her first start in nearly eight months.

D'Wildcat Speed dominated her division in Puerto Rico last year as a 3-year-old, winning all 12 of her starts, including four Group 1 races. But after only two races earlier this year at Gulfstream Park, her U.S. career came to a halt after she sustained a fractured cannon bone.

It seemed last Saturday at Fair Grounds that the horses had contracted a serious case of that debilitating ailment known as The Slows.

It is true there weren't any exceedingly fast entrants in Saturday's second race, but still: When was the last time the winning horse at a racetrack outside Montana ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:08.68?

NEW ORLEANS - The transition between the private ownership of the Krantz family and Churchill Downs Incorporated, which bought Fair Grounds in October, hit a speed bump last week, when former Fair Grounds executive vice president Vicki Krantz told the New Orleans Times Picayune she quit, saying, "It just didn't work out."

Former Fair Grounds president Bryan Krantz, Vicki's husband, has been retained as a consultant for a three-year, $4 million deal. He explained that Vicki never actually worked for CDI.