Everything seems aligned well for Modoc to repeat in Friday's Portland Meadows feature.

A 3-year-old gelding, Modoc has six rivals in a six-furlong allowance race for horses that have never won three races.

One week ago, Modoc won an allowance race for nonwinners of two lifetime, earning a career-best 71 Beyer and beating older. The figure is the best last-race Beyer and has been matched by only one other runner in the field, Sensationalsonny, who was fifth while trying to rally four wide in the slop against similar in his debut her on Oct. 17.

EDMONTON, Alberta - The 2004 Thoroughbred schedule comes to a conclusion Saturday at Northlands Park with a nine-race card comprising claiming races plus simulcast betting on the Breeders' Cup program from Lone Star Park.

In order to accommodate the Breeders' Cup events, which begin at 11:20 a.m. local time, officials at Northlands Park have moved the post time for live racing on Saturday to 11:05 a.m. The post times here will be staggered in conjunction with races in Texas.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Trainer Neil Howard said Wednesday that he will run both Midway Road and Alumni Hall in Saturday's closing-day $150,000 Fayette Handicap at Keeneland, where they are expected to meet Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup winner Total Impact.

Both Howard-trained runners are unbeaten at Keeneland, but Midway Road in particular has been sensational here. Howard believes this partially overshadows the colt's other achievements, which include runner-up finishes in the Preakness in 2003 and the Pimlico Special this year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Most 2-year-olds haven't raced five times this year, let alone won five races. Dubleo has done just that. Friday, he bids for his sixth victory in the $100,000 Bourbon County Stakes at Keeneland, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for 2-year-olds.

The likely favorite, has little margin for error. Some horses that raced competitively behind him this summer and fall - United and Go to the Sun - are back to test him again, along with a large group of new shooters.

CHICAGO - It is not that hard to guess what's going to transpire in the featured 10th race Friday at Hawthorne. There are at least two and perhaps three or four pure speed horses in this entry-level turf allowance race. More difficult to divine is whom a speed duel would benefit most.

Zakocity won the first stakes of his career in Wednesday's $110,100 at Aqueduct before a crowd of 2,693 on opening day of the fall meet.

Under Javier Castellano, Zakocity was 3 1/2-length winner over Stolen Time. It was another three-quarters of a length back to Mahzouz in third. My Snookie's Boy, the favorite in the 1 1/8-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds, finished sixth in the eight-horse field.

Zakocity, who controlled the pace through comfortable fractions, covered the distance in 1:49.78 over a fast track.

Pat Reynolds trains Zakocity ($15) for Paul Pompa Jr.

A dispute between Thoroughbred and Standardbred horsemen in Ohio is threatening a proposal by the Ohio State Racing Commission to reduce racing dates in the state, racing officials said Wednesday.

Dan Theno, the executive director of the Ohio Thoroughbred Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said that his organization is refusing to sign off on the agreement to reduce the racing dates because of objections over the split of simulcasting money that will go to each breed.

Handle and attendance during Calder Race Course's 123-day summer and fall meeting were down in the face of adverse weather conditions created by the string of hurricanes that hit south Florida this year.

Average all-sources handle on Calder's races dropped 10.3 percent, from $3.36 million to $3.02 million, while ontrack handle dropped 3 percent, from $397,399 to $385,675. Average attendance dropped 5.2 percent, from 4,669 to 4,429.

New Jersey Sen. Richard Codey, who will be sworn in as the state's governor on Nov. 15, has proposed that Monmouth Park run at nights on weekdays and that the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority reconsider a plan to lease its racetracks to another company, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press.

ARCADIA, Calif. - At one point earlier this month, Littlebitofzip was an outside candidate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Lone Star Park on Saturday.

That ended when he finished third in the Grade 2 Norfolk Stakes, losing by 17 lengths to Roman Ruler. He earned $24,000, but owner Cecil Peacock and trainer Dan Hendricks decided Littlebitofzip's future was on turf.

Friday, Littlebitofzip makes his stakes debut on turf in the $75,000 Pinjara Stakes over a mile at Santa Anita. The race is restricted to non-winners of a stakes at a mile or over.