Defending champion Just Michel takes on 12 Ohio-bred filly and mare rivals in the $40,000 Scarlet and Gray Handicap at Beulah Park.

Just Michel was winless in five starts following her 2003 Scarlet and Gray victory but broke the losing string in her most recent start by rallying to a two-length victory over open allowance company at Thistledown on Oct. 9. The win came at six furlongs, the same distance as the Scarlet and Gray. Just Michel is 5 for 10 at the distance.

Ricardo Feliciano will be in from Cleveland to ride Just Michel, who will carry 119 pounds.

Trainer Paul Jones will start half of the 10-horse field for Sunday's $1,002,400 Golden State Million Futurity for Quarter Horses at Los Alamitos. Jones, the nation's leading Quarter Horse trainer, considers two hard-luck fillies - Hardly Hateful and Louisiana Eye Opener - to be his best chances.

The 400-yard race is the first of two seven-figure futurities at Los Alamitos this fall. In December, the track is hosting the Los Alamitos Million, with an estimated purse of $1.4 million.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The Magna era at Bay Meadows ends Sunday, when the fall meet closes.

The Bay Meadows Land Company has put together its own racing team to run the facility in 2005, ending its lease agreement with Magna.

The Bay Meadows fall meet is always a difficult one, coming on the heels of the summer fair circuit with its six-day weeks and opening with an overlap in Sacramento. It also faces an overlap with the Fresno fair meeting.

Bang must overcome a near five-month layoff to win his seventh straight race Sunday in the $53,700 KLAQ Handicap at Sunland Park. A 5 1/2-furlong race, the KLAQ drew a strong field of seven, including Day Trader and Cheyenne Breeze.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There's a stakes doubleheader on Sunday at Woodbine, and no matter how the chips fall, trainer Mark Casse should be represented in both races.

Casse has Palm Avenue for the Fanfreluche, a six-furlong race for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies, and P.J.'s Paulie Boy for the Labeeb, a one-mile stakes for 3-year-olds and upward.

The Labeeb is scheduled to be the last turf race of the meeting, but recent rain could force the race to the main track.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The $100,000 Ascot Graduation next Saturday is the last major stakes race at Hastings this year, and the headliners, Notis Otis and One Special Hoss, could have a provincial championship riding on the outcome.

Notis Otis is clearly the leading candidate for the juvenile title. A B.C.-bred colt, Notis Otis is undefeated, and three of his four wins have been in stakes races. One Special Hoss has won 3 of 4 starts, but his lone stakes win was in Alberta.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel's season in New York will come to an end later this month when his runners head to Florida and California. Before he leaves, Frankel will have several opportunities to add to the 14 stakes he has won in New York this year.

One of his remaining stakes prospects is Arvada, the likely favorite in Saturday's $150,000 at Aqueduct. Arvada is among eight fillies and mares entered in the 1 1/2-mile turf race. Bounding Charm was entered for the main track only.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Cloakof Vagueness may be the least accomplished of the nine fillies and mares entered in Saturday's $100,000 Turnback the Alarm Handicap at Aqueduct, but there are some things to like about her in the Grade 3 stakes.

A gray mare, Cloakof Vagueness figures to be double-digit odds in a race that has produced double-digit mutuels in four of the last five years. The pace scenario and distance should be an advantage for Cloakof Vagueness.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Artie Schiller, who finished 12th as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Mile, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Derby at Hollywood Park on Nov. 28, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. The Hollywood Derby is run at 1 1/4 miles.

Jerkens said John Velazquez would ride Artie Schiller in that race. Velazquez, the leading rider in the country in purse money won, would replace Richard Migliore, who suffered a broken wrist in gate mishap at Aqueduct on Oct. 28.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - For the past several months, the main question regarding the upcoming 2005 Gulfstream Park season was whether the newly constructed turf course would be ready for the opening of the meet.

But as the clock ticks down, Magna Entertainment Corporation's main concern - with opening day less than eight weeks away on Jan. 3. - is whether the front side will be ready and operational for the meet, not the one-mile grass course.