Saturday marks the fourth annual Ladies Night at Hoosier Park, headlined by the Female Jockey Challenge, which features 12 female riders competing in six races.

There will be free admission for ladies, and those who are 18 and over will receive a free $2 betting voucher. Jeannine Edwards of ESPN will be on hand for a wagering seminar scheduled from 5:15 to 6 p.m., and there will be a wine-tasting session during the early races from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The Jockey Challenge will bring in female riders from the Northeast and Canada along with regional riders.

Rockem Sockem was named the Michigan horse of the year last Saturday, when Great Lakes Downs ended its sixth season of racing. A 3-year-old gelding, Rockem Sockem was sensational in winning the Lansing, Spartan, and Dowling stakes this year.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It would not have been a Breeders' Cup without trouble, and the filly Musical Chimes had one of the day's worst trips while finishing sixth in the BC Mile at Lone Star. By Tuesday morning, the 4-year-old Musical Chimes had already returned to Hollywood Park and was bucking and playing while being ponied on the training track. She acted as if she had not even run.

"She came out of the race well, of course, because she only ran half a furlong," said her frustrated trainer, Neil Drysdale.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - What do you do with a 6-year-old allowance-class gelding who is on a roll? The answer for trainer Gary Mandella is simple - "Put him right back in for the tag."

scored his second consecutive allowance win last month at Santa Anita in a two-other-than allowance on the hillside turf. Mandella could have waited for a three-other-than, but chose to run him at the same level Thursday at Hollywood Park in an N2X/optional $62,500 claiming race. Pragmatico is in for the claiming price.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The condition of Aqueduct's grass course was less-than-perfect on Tuesday, the day entries were taken for Thursday. As a result, the only grass race carded for Thursday is the $60,000-added Manila Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Grass racing was canceled Tuesday because of uneven patches on the course, which raised safety concerns. With no racing on Wednesday, the track crew had two days to try to correct the problem.

Further complicating matters is that rain is forecast for Thursday. The potential for wet weather drew four main-track-only horses.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Honorable Cat could vault past $200,000 in earnings when she races in a full field of runners in Thursday's featured ninth race at Churchill Downs.

A 5-year-old Honor Grades mare with $179,337 in earnings, she rates as the class of the $60,400 optional claiming race at a mile on turf.

Before running a close second against allowance company last month at Keeneland, Honorable Cat placed in the Pleasant Temper Stakes at Kentucky Downs and also in the Grade 3 Eatontown Handicap at Monmouth in July.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Johnny Magic has taken nine cracks at the nonwinners-of-two-lifetime allowance category for Ontario-sired runners, and might finally clear that condition in Thursday's 1 1/16-mile feature at Woodbine.

Johnny Magic won his maiden around two turns in his final 2003 appearance for trainer Malcolm Pierce, but is winless in nine starts this year. He has hit the board five times at the meeting while earning $54,530.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Did the crowd of 2,778 at Aqueduct on Election Day see the next Smarty Jones? That question will have to wait until next year, but the comparisons between Smarty Jones, this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, and Rockport Harbor, the 6 1/4-length winner of Tuesday's Nashua, are already being made.

The Ohio State Racing Commission approved a 2005 racing schedule on Tuesday that awards live race days according to the minimums required by law, an action the commission took after horsemen in the state failed to come to an agreement on an alternate schedule.

The schedule will affect only one Thoroughbred track in the state, Beulah Park, which will run nine fewer racing days in 2005 than in 2004. River Downs and Thistledown would continue to run the same number of days as in 2004. Harness tracks, however, will have their schedules substantially reduced.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - One important guide to handicapping races is to read the conditions of the race.

Thursday's Bay Meadows feature, like many races scheduled late in the year, requires handicappers to pay close attention to the fine print.

Sharp claimers stepping up in first-level allowance races often have an advantage over rivals who have been stuck in that condition for a number of races.