Black Bart was the horse at Turf Paradise last year. He came within a nose of winning the $150,000 Turf Paradise Breeders' Cup Handicap, losing to Irish Warrior, a horse who a couple months earlier had finished fourth won the Breeders' Cup Mile.

Black Bart followed that up with stakes wins in the Down the Isle and Blaze O'Brien. He was going so strong he was sent to Southern California, where he did himself proud winning the Khaled and Quicken Tree and finishing a solid fourth in the Grade 2 American Handicap.

There is no shortage of speed drawn to the inside in the $52,550 Princess Handicap for 2-year-old fillies at Sunland Park.

The six-furlong race, which is the first stakes of the new meet, has drawn three speedsters in Coronado Rose, Time to Divorce, and Gone Western, and a fight for the early lead is almost certainly looming.

All three have inside post positions, with Time to Divorce breaking from the rail for trainer Carlos Sedillo. The last time she was on the fence she won her debut wire to wire in a 4 1/2-furlong race at SunRay Park on Aug. 2.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Sports fans around New England have had good reason to root for their favorites on the road lately. And there's an opportunity to place a few legal wagers on more locals come Saturday night, when riders Tammi Piermarini and Jill Jellison head to Hoosier Park for the fourth annual Female Jockey Challenge.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Bobby Lane had been training for 10 years when he walked away from the racetrack at the end of the 1996 Woodbine meeting.

Lane's departure was not sorrowful, however. In fact, it was a decision made with the purest of motives.

"My son, Billy, was 7 years old, and I had hardly seen him his whole life," said Lane. "I figured I was only having the one child, and I wanted to be with him while he grew up."

Lane indirectly kept in touch with the horses, as he managed a teletheater in Whitby, Ontario, close to the family home in Oshawa.

PHILADELPHIA - John Servis watched the Breeders' Cup with family and friends at his Bensalem, Pa., home. He truly wanted to be at Lone Star Park with Smarty Jones. He wanted to find out just how good the colt really was.

Instead, he had to settle for running imaginary races in his mind. When the BC Classic was over, with Ghostzapper leaving a lasting impression in his bid for Horse of the Year, Servis praised the 4-year-old who did not lose in 2004 and offered his perspective on the candidacy of Smarty Jones.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Roman Ruler, the beaten favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile last weekend, is scheduled to undergo surgery this week to have an undescended testicle removed, trainer Bob Baffert said.

Baffert said the procedure will be conducted Sunday and that Roman Ruler will miss "a week or two" of training. "This has been bothering him for a long time," Baffert said.

The procedure will leave Roman Ruler a ridgling.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - General Moody and Charbonnier ended layoffs of nearly a year when they finished second and fifth, respectively, in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Oct. 15. The race was the foundation of a campaign that resumes on Friday night at Hollywood Park and could result in one of them winning the seventh race.

Run over 1 1/16 miles on turf, the $39,000 allowance race is for California-breds. There could be a surface switch if the forecast of rain holds true.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If good things happen to those who wait, then trainer Bob Holthus could be in for a big weekend at Churchill Downs.

Holthus will have top contenders in each of the 2-year-old stakes that will be run here Saturday: Kota, winner of the Ellis Debutante in August, will be one of the fillies to beat in the $100,000 Pocahontas Stakes, while Greater Good, winner of the Kentucky Cup Juvenile in September, figures as one of the top colts in the $100,000 Iroquois Stakes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The names are enough to make a horseplayer think he has his days mixed up. Bedanken, Honor in War, and Ay Caramba, all exiting rich weekend stakes at Keeneland, have resurfaced in separate turf allowances on what shapes up as an exceptionally good Friday program at Churchill Downs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The presence of speed in Friday's eighth race at Aqueduct could provide Watchem Smokey with the perfect setup to win the optional claimer.

Six sprinters were entered in the 6 1/2-furlong dirt race, which has a purse of $58,000. Mr. Whitestone and the Mark Shuman-trained entry of Spooky Mulder and Highway Prospector were entered to be claimed for $100,000. Only one of the Shuman horses will run, as Aaron Gryder was named on both horses.