Charles Town racetrack has closed for live racing for the second time in three weeks after drainage problems with the track's racing surface reemerged.

Eric Schippers, a spokesman for Charles Town's parent company, Penn National Gaming, said the track is expected to be closed until Friday, the day before Charles Town is scheduled to hold its annual statebred stakes day, the West Virginia Breeders Classics.

"Our first priority is to ensure the safety of the track for the jockeys and horses," Schippers said.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Thursday that will aid the Los Angeles County Fair in gaining financing to expand its racetrack at Fairplex Park from five furlongs to one-mile in circumference.

George Bradvica, equine manager of the Los Angeles County Fair, said the bill would divert a portion of the state's share of the takeout to pay for construction projects to expand the racetrack. The earliest the property would be expanded would be 2006, Bradvica said.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Stormybdanc-ing has teased, flirted, and brushed right up against a second-level allowance win, but as close she's come, Stormy-bdancing has lost eight in a row since she won an entry-level allowance in late summer 2003.

If you could trust her to break through, Stormybdancing could be the play Sunday at Hawthorne in the co-featured ninth race. The ninth is for second-level allowance fillies at one mile on turf; the fifth is a dirt route run under the same conditions. The two races share something else: They're both bent toward the inscrutable.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Bret Calhoun believes Janeian is a different mare than she was last year - and last year she was very good. This year, he says, she is better.

Calhoun's theory will be battle-tested Sunday, when takes on Aud, Due to Win Again, and Cherylville Slew in the $100,000 Yellow Rose Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park.

A 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares, the Yellow Rose will share a card with the $100,000 Middleground Breeders' Cup. The Middleground is for 2-year-olds, and it will be televised on ESPN.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Ready Ruler has so much talent that he jumped at the wire in his last race and still won. If he eliminates the jumping, as his trainer, Steve Asmussen, believes he will, he could be tough in the $100,000 Middle-ground Breeders' Cup at Lone Star Park on Sunday.

The one-mile race for 2-year-olds is one of two stakes on the program, and it will be telecast on ESPN between 5-6 p.m. Central. The race is a prep for the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile, which will be run at Lone Star on Oct. 30.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Many people considered trainer Ed Thompson lucky when he purchased Delightful Dance for a song and developed her into a stakes winner in the mid 1980's. They gave him a little more credit when he did it again with Reve Du, a $2,500 yearling purchase who earned $229,396.

When it happened again with Funboy, $271,361, it was pretty clear Thompson wasn't just lucky, he obviously has a good eye for a young horse. Add Name for Norm to the list, another $2,500 purchase who banked more than $278,000, and you get the picture.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Six tough-as-nails sprinters line up for Sunday's $55,000-added Big Jag Handicap at Bay Meadows.

A six-furlong race, the Big Jag will have four stakes winners, including defending champion My Captain. Attack Force, who hasn't been worse than second in his past five starts, and Jagged Ice, who has three wins and a second in his past four starts, will also run.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Caribbean Cruiser, an undefeated 2-year-old New York-bred, shoots for his third consecutive stakes win in Sunday's $100,000-added Bertram F. Bongard at Belmont Park.

will be a heavy favorite against seven rivals in the Bongard, which for some of the runners will serve as a stepping-stone to the $100,000-added Sleepy Hollow on New York Showcase Day on Oct. 23.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Some talented 2-year-old New York-bred fillies have won the Joseph A. Gimma Stakes, including future graded stakes winners Dat You Miz Blue and Capeside Lady.

Another future graded stakes winner could be in the field of 12 entered for Sunday's $100,000-added Joseph A. Gimma at Belmont Park.

Unlike Sunday's co-featured Bertram F. Bongard, which features Caribbean Cruiser, the Gimma doesn't have a headliner, but a couple of the runners have done some good things lately.

Presidentialaffair, runner-up to Ghostzapper in the Grade 3 Iselin Handicap, and Angela's Love, winner of the Grade 3 Gardenia Handicap, are among the prominent horses expected to run in next weekend's Maryland Million at Pimlico.

Presidentialaffair, in the Classic, and Angela's Love, in the Distaff, were among 171 offspring of Maryland stallions pre-entered in the 12 races that will be contested next Saturday. Post positions will be drawn Wednesday.