Caught in the Rain, a multiple graded-stakes winner on the turf, doesn't usually run on dirt unless rain moves a race to a wet main track.

She will try to translate her good grass form to an anticipated fast main track against 10 older Pennsylvania-bred fillies and mares in the $50,000 Pistol Packer Handicap at Philadelphia Park.

A 5-year-old mare trained by Lupe Preciado, Caught in the Rain is far more accomplished on turf, where she won the Grade 3 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs as a 3-year-old and last fall's Grade 3 Athenia Handicap at Aqueduct.

Gilded Gold, an easy winner of her last two starts in Kentucky, makes her stakes debut in the $50,000 Pollys Jet, a six-furlong stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.

Trained by Tom Amoss, Gilded Gold has earned back-to-back Beyer Speed Figures of 95 and 92 while winning her maiden and a first-level allowance at Churchill Downs.

HENDERSON, Ky. - Seats are empty. Faces are long. Morale is suffering.

This is the Ellis Park of 2004, a place where summer jubilance seems a distant memory. A recent purse cut underscores the business struggles in which this 82-year-old track is mired, and predictions of more dire consequences are being whispered throughout the racetrack if something good doesn't happen in due course.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There are 11 horses entered in the Sea o'Erin Breeders' Cup Mile Handicap on Saturday at Arlington Park, but if form holds, the race boils down to just two: multiple stakes winner .

Time to take sides.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - By just about every measurement, B.C. Cup Day was a major success at Hastings last Monday. There were thrilling finishes in five of the races, particularly the Classic. Additionally, 3-year-old filly sensation Regal Red and 4-year-old filly Dancewithavixen once again demonstrated their superior ability with easy wins in their respective races.

Mountaineer Race Track typically offers a steady diet of claiming races. Not Saturday - there are no claiming races, or even maiden races, on the nine-race West Virginia Derby card. Two allowances and six stakes complement the $600,000 West Virginia Derby, the track's signature race. Purses total over $1.2 million.

All but one of the supporting stakes will be contested for purses of $85,000 apiece. The exception is the West Virginia Governor's Handicap, a $100,000 stakes that, as the seventh race, immediately precedes the West Virginia Derby.

After 12 starts, all of them sprints in Louisiana, Britt's Jules seemed typecast. A five-time winner, including three minor stakes at Delta Downs, Britt's Jules was destined to spend his racing career roaming from one small track in Cajun country to another.

Eric Guillot, who trains in Louisiana, took notice of Britt's Jules and thought the 3-year-old gelding was capable of more. Guillot envisioned Britt's Jules going long. He also believed Britt's Jules had sufficient potential to make an impact on the national level.

MIAMI - Frolic for Joy has won his last two starts by a combined 25 1/2 lengths. Those two dominating performances, though, may still not be good enough to make him the favorite when he makes his stakes debut against the likes of Nightmare Affair and Caballero Negro in Saturday's $40,000 Silver Season Stakes at Calder.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Three winners of major stakes for Massachusetts-bred fillies and mares will meet in Saturday's $40,000 First Episode Stakes at Suffolk Downs.

The reigning queen of the Mass-breds, Sunlit Ridge, returned to her winning ways on the grass last time, and now goes looking for her first victory on dirt since December 2001. She has amassed 15 victories from 58 starts and has seven stakes wins, including the 2001 Rockingham Park Oaks.

Even though Happy Ticket will be making her stakes debut Saturday in the $70,000 Elge Rasberry at Louisiana Downs, she is clearly the one to beat. Happy Ticket ran such a huge race last out that she might not need to improve upon or even duplicate it to win the seven-furlong race restricted to 3-year-old fillies bred in Louisiana.

That is not to say the competition is lacking. The seven-horse field includes two-time stakes winner Cabildo Bag, who once beat male rivals, and Shes Dixies Eskimo, the only horse to ever defeat seven-time winner Placid Star.