It is almost impossible to handicap Retama Park near San Antonio without considering horses trained by Danny Pish and ridden by Roman Chapa. The men have dominated the meet, and will team together Saturday night with top contenders in the two richest open-company stakes of the season: the $100,000 Ketel One El Joven and the $100,000 M2 Technology La Senorita.

Saturday's $75,000 Dade Turf Classic at Ellis Park could be decided mere strides from the gate.

Beret, a deep closer, won't win the race in the first few jumps; she could lose it. She has stumbled and thrown her rider at the start in two of four starts this year.

But she won easily in the two races in which she broke cleanly, including in her last race when she beat a comparable overnight handicap field over the Ellis Park grass course.

A pair of $250,000 stakes has tempted New York-based trainers Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin, and Tom Albertrani to bring several of their lightly raced 2-year-olds to Delaware Park this weekend.

If all the New Yorkers show up, they could well dominate Saturday's co-features, the National Association of Two-Year-Old Consignors Futurity and the NATC Sorority. Both stakes will be contested at six furlongs and are restricted to horses who went through the sales ring this year.

Two years ago, Shiny Sheet won the Alma North Stakes at Timonium by 11 1/2 lengths, earning a career-high 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

Last year, Ribbon Cane went wire to wire in the Alma North as the even-money favorite.

Shiny Sheet and Ribbon Cane, who have combined for 19 victories and more than $750,000 in earnings, now meet in the 2004 edition of the Alma North, a $50,000 stakes for Maryland-bred fillies and mares.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - New England goes from one Thoroughbred track to three over Labor Day weekend as Northampton Fair opens in western Massachusetts, Rockingham Park brings racing back to its turf course Sunday, and Suffolk Downs holds three stakes on Saturday and Monday.

It has been lean for owners, trainers, and horse players over the past year and a half here, but the temporary glut of racing opportunities could be a sign of better things in the future.

Officially, it's known as "Pennsylvania Day at the Races," a celebration of the Keystone State's breeding program with a series of statebred stakes worth $50,000 apiece at Philadelphia Park.

Based on the core of contenders in Saturday's most competitive race, it might just as easily be "Old-timer's Day."

The Robert Camac Memorial, a five-furlong turf sprint, shapes up as the day's most interesting betting race. The 11-horse field includes four runners - all of whom are viable contenders - between the ages of 8 and 13.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Is A B Noodle northern California's top turf mare? The question may be answered in Saturday's $55,000-added Autumn Leaves Handicap. The one-mile turf race for fillies and mares is the first of 16 stakes to be run during Bay Meadows's 49-day fall meeting.

A B Noodle will be running against an old rival, Marwood, as well as five others. There will be six betting interests in the race, as Marwood runs coupled with Cat Alert.

Jockey Russell Baze and trainer Charlie Whittingham head a list of six new inductees into the Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame for 2004.

The inductees, announced Wednesday, also include breeder George Drumheller, horses Turbulator and Saratoga Passage, and the founder of Emerald Downs, Ron Crockett Jr., who received a lifetime achievement award.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Last year trainer David Milburn referred to himself as a better lawyer than horse trainer. After the success he has had this season, he might want to reevaluate that statement. Going into this weekend Milburn has won six races from 28 starts and he has been sharp in his claims.

One of his recent claims, Vye Me to the Moon, appears to have a legitimate shot at winning Sunday's 6 1/2-furlong Cover Girl Stakes.

Topango brings a 5 for 6 record on turf into Saturday's Lyrique.

Topango has managed to win her turf debut, her stakes debut off a long layoff, and races over three different courses. Yet she might be facing the toughest challenge of her career Saturday in the $50,000 Lyrique Handicap at Louisiana Downs.

The issue is weight. Topango is the 121-pound highweight in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies, and she will be spotting her rivals from three to nine pounds.