POMONA, Calif. - Los Angeles County Fair racing officials are expected to modernize the wagering menu for the 2005 meet, after a slew of winning favorites undermined the pick nine carryover and, for the second straight year, eliminated the potential for a jackpot into the closing-day card Sunday at Fairplex Park.

Favorites won six of eight Thoroughbred races Monday, bringing the meet Thoroughbred total to 41 winning favorites from 100 races. The opening leg of Monday's pick nine, an Appaloosa race, was also won by the favorite.

The $200,000 Connally Breeders' Cup Turf, which was moved from February to April for this year's running, will remain later on the calendar for the upcoming winter-spring meet at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.

The 1 1/8-mile Connally is the richest of 32 stakes to be decided during the 71-night meet that opens on Nov. 17. The race will be run on April 9, 2005, one night before the meet closes. Sam Houston will offer $1.9 million in stakes purses, and has budgeted daily purses at $110,000 a day.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A full field of 12 will be running 1 1/16 miles on the turf in the Bay Meadows feature, a $32,000 starter allowance for fillies and mares who have never won two races.

A wide-open race, it demands an opinion, and for those who are right, the payoff should be healthy.

If speed figures are your bag, Vale of Wings has the highest career Beyer Speed Figure (88) and also the highest last-race Beyer Figure (78), but she also has the highest number of career starts, 28, with only one win.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Dave Cotey has never been shy about shipping horses to western Canada, and he will continue that tradition when he sends out Strike Em Hard in Sunday's $250,000 British Columbia Derby at Hastings.

Strike Em Hard is slated to leave Woodbine early Friday morning and will meet his groom, Paul Eccleston, at Hastings.

Cotey and Constant Montpellier, Strike Em Hard's regular rider, will be flying out to Vancouver on Saturday evening.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Roses in May came out of his victory in the Kentucky Cup Classic on Saturday in perfect shape and will resume training Wednesday toward the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup Classic at Lone Star Park, trainer Dale Romans said Monday at his Churchill Downs base.

"He ate up, walked sound, all that good stuff," said Romans. "Now we'll look forward to going to Texas."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The $600,000 question that faced Soaring Free here Sunday was whether he would be at his best at the distance of the , particularly when a hot pace seemed likely.

But when Soaring Free found himself with only one front-running companion, his rider, Todd Kabel, seized the day, and Soaring Free was good enough to hold sway down the long, 1,440-foot stretch of this 1 1/2-mile turf course.

"A mile is probably the absolute maximum distance he wants to go," said Mark Frostad, who trains Soaring Free for Sam-Son Farm. "Seven furlongs is his best trip."

Imperialism worked a bullet Saturday for the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby, and as of Monday the race's probable favorite had one more rival to beat with the commitment of a ninth starter, Mr. Jester.

The 1 1/8-mile Super Derby will be run Saturday at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.

worked at his Santa Anita base, traveling seven furlongs in company in 1:24.40. He is scheduled to fly into Shreveport, La., on Wednesday for owner Steve Taub and trainer Kristin Mulhall. The race will be his first start since finishing fifth in the Preakness Stakes on May 15.

CHICAGO - Arlington Park broke out of the gate slowly but finished full of run, concluding its 2004 meet on Sunday with increases in total and ontrack handle. And Arlington shook off notions that it limps home after Labor Day, with a strong final two weeks bolstered by remarkable closing-day business.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Eddington had his first work since finishing third in the Travers Stakes on Monday at Belmont Park. Following the work, trainer Mark Hennig said he is pointing Eddington to the $300,000 Pegasus at The Meadowlands on Oct. 1.

Eddington covered five furlongs in 1:01.43 on the main track, which was listed as fast.

"I was very pleased; he came home in 24 [seconds]," Hennig said.

Eddington was beaten six lengths by Birdstone in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 28.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Pedigree versus race record is what separates Great Pyramid and Polo Grounds, a two-horse entry trained by Kiaran McLaughlin in Wednesday's eighth race at Belmont Park.

, a full brother to multiple Group 1 winner Rock of Gibraltar, was bought for approximately $600,000 at Goffs in Ireland as a yearling. He has won one race from 13 starts. Polo Grounds, purchased at auction for $35,000 as a yearling, has a win and a second from two starts.