There has never been any doubt about Very Vegas's ability - just her style. She's a speed demon, and she goes out as fast as she can as long as she can, a style that has worked decently. Going into last Saturday's $50,000 Queen of the Green Handicap at a mile on the turf, she had five victories and more than $222,000 in earnings. Included in those victories were stakes wins at Turf Paradise and a victory on turf sprinting at Santa Anita. She also placed in stakes at Hollywood Park, Monmouth, and The Meadowlands.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct canceled Wednesday's card due to forecasted high winds. Wednesday was to be opening day of the inner track.

Aqueduct remained open for simulcasting and rain checks were issued for admission, parking and programs up until 11:35 a.m.

Heavy rains pelted the New York area Wednesday morning and though clearing was expected by mid-afternoon, the forecast called for wind gusts between 40 and 50 miles per hour.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Flushed with joy in the immediate aftermath of a Breeders' Cup Turf victory, trainer Graham Motion said Better Talk Now would be put away for the rest of the year and would reemerge late next spring.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Ron Ellis is naturally effusive, and has done some work in television, so he's rarely at a loss for words. But after watching Declan's Moon turn in a sublime, effortless work on Tuesday morning at Hollywood Park, the trainer was at a loss for words.

"I really don't know what to say," Ellis said. "I mean, whatever he went, that's as easy as he could go."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Forty Suertudo and Saint Buddy are getting to be old friends. They ran against each other at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting on Oct. 7. They ran against each other on opening day of Hollywood Park's fall meeting Nov. 3. And they will meet again in Thursday's featured seventh race, an optional-claiming race that drew three other runners going 1 1/16 miles. It is the seventh race on an eight-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

If this year's Pennsylvania Nursery winner turns out to be as good as last year's, Dogwood Stable will have a lot to smile about come the first Saturday in May. The Dogwood syndicate's United won the Nursery by 5 1/2 lengths last month at Philadelphia Park, one year after Smarty Jones stormed to a 15-length win in the race, which preceded his victories in this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

"Smarty blew 'em out a little bit better than we did, but we still did all right," said Cot Campbell, president of Dogwood.

In 1985, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin stopped by Delta Downs in Vinton, La., to see a friend while on the way from Florida to California to work for D. Wayne Lukas. When McLaughlin starts Closing Argument in the $1 million Delta Jackpot on Saturday, he will be surprised to see how the track has changed in the last 19 years.

Candid Glen, winner of the Grade 2 Explosive Bid Handicap at Fair Grounds in March 2003, returns to action after a 15-month layoff Thursday in the feature race at Fair Grounds, a $36,000 allowance on the grass at about 7 1/2 furlongs. A 7-year-old El Gran Senor gelding, Candid Glen has bankrolled more than $1.61 million on the grass, finishing in the money in 21 of his 34 turf starts.

Candid Glen was in rambunctious spirits earlier this week, lunging out of his stall trying to bite visitors. His trainer, Andy Leggio Jr., liked the way the horse was acting.

MIAMI - The Gulfstream Park meeting, which annually showcases talent from many of the most prominent stables in the country, doesn't open until Jan. 3. But you wouldn't know it from the entries for Saturday's Grand Slam I program at Calder.

Grand Slam I features entrants from trainers Todd Pletcher, Shug McGaughey, Christophe Clement, Bill Mott, Michael Matz, Graham Motion, Anthony Reinstedler, Barclay Tagg, and several other prominent New York- or Midwest-based stables.

Only 98 horses have been made early nominees to the Grade 1 Florida Derby for 2005, well down from the last two years. Absent from the list were any of the top finishers in this year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile or a single horse from the barn of trainer Nick Zito, whose stable has been among the Florida Derby's biggest supporters over the past decade.

Zito's Sun King finished third in the Juvenile.