SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - In the days following the Jim Dandy, after The Cliff's Edge finished second as the favorite, jockey Shane Sellers feared he would lose the mount for the Travers. His connections were upset that The Cliff's Edge was so far back early in the race, and Jerry Bailey was available.

Though owner Robert LaPenta called it "a tortuous decision," he and Nick Zito decided to stick with Sellers for Saturday's $1 million . Sellers says he hopes to reward their faith by giving Zito and LaPenta their first Travers trophy.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The last time that retired trainer Mack Miller visited Saratoga was in 1997, but his memories of the track, where he won two Travers Stakes in a seven-year span, are some of his fondest in his 45-year career.

Two of Miller's biggest wins at Saratoga came in the Travers with Java Gold in 1987 and Sea Hero in 1993. The late Paul Mellon, the man behind the legendary Rokeby Stable, owned Java Gold and Sea Hero. Miller, who retired at the end of 1995, trained for Mellon for 17 years.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Souvenir Gift is the survivor in California's 2-year-old filly division.

Since June 1, Souvenir Gift has started in all three of the open stakes in the division. She will try for her third stakes win in Saturday's $250,000 .

Inspiring, who beat Souvenir Gift in the Sorrento Stakes Aug. 7, is out of training with tender shins. Her absence makes Souvenir Gift the favorite in the Grade 1 Debutante, run over seven furlongs.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Jockey Corey Nakatani appeared before an administrative law judge on Wednesday in an appeal of a 30-day suspension issued last March at Santa Anita for causing interference that resulted in a spill.

In a hearing that lasted nearly three hours, attorney Donald Calabria, representing Nakatani, argued before administrative law judge James Ahler that the jockey did not maliciously bump the horse alongside of him and cause jockey Javier Santiago to be unseated from his mount.

Champali could have run next weekend in the Grade 1 Forego Handicap at Saratoga. But that likely would have contradicted what the colt's connections are trying to accomplish with him.

"We're trying to get him to the Breeders' Cup Sprint in peak shape," said Rob Lloyd, who manages the Lloyd Madison Farms syndicate, which owns Champali. "We don't want him to have to run his eyeballs out to get there."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - A local boy who never ventured far from home, trainer Jim Ryerson remembers when the Grade 3, $100,000 Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park was one of the premier events for 2-year-olds.

Ryerson, who was born in nearby Long Branch, gets a chance to write his own chapter in Sapling history Saturday, when he sends the undefeated in the 70th running of the six-furlong stakes.

"Being from here and growing up here, I'd love to win a Sapling," said Ryerson.

Horsemen at Philadelphia Park have reached an agreement with the track to add $100,000 to daily purses by November of next year as part of an advance payment for an expected subsidy from slot machines, according to Michael Ballezzi, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

A security guard at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans escaped injury Monday when a bullet fired by a would-be robber lodged in the guard's gun belt.

Bryan Krantz, president of Fair Grounds, called it "a miracle" that the 49-year-old guard was not hurt. According to Krantz and newspaper reports, the robber remained in his car and demanded money from an armored car parked just outside the Fair Grounds clubhouse on Monday afternoon. When a guard carrying the money ducked into the armored car, the robber then shot at the other guard, with the bullet lodging in the belt.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Classic Fool figures to be about 40-1 in Saturday's $60,000 Governor's Handicap at the California State Fair. In other words, he may have his eight rivals in the 1 1/8-mile race just where he wants them.

Classic Fool is the defending champ in the race, and if he wins again it will be considered a major upset as he meets the Jerry Hollendorfer-trained trio of Yougottawanna, Gold Ruckus, and Snoopy Cat.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Double Time will seek his fifth victory of the year in Saturday's $5,000 Toon's Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds and up.

Double Time, the 2003 Saskatchewan horse of the year, won this race in 2003 and, over the last two years, has missed the board just once while winning 10 races at Marquis Downs. Double Time, the 123-pound highweight who will concede two to 10 pounds to his six challengers, is a confirmed front-runner and has won at distances ranging from a half-mile to today's distance.