AUBURN, Wash. - L G's Gold drops into a logical spot on Thursday when she heads a field of eight 3- and 4-year-old fillies in the Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong test for $15,000 to $12,500 claimers who have never won three races.

Trainer Donnie Von Hemel has started two horses in the Super Derby and both finished third at odds of more than 50-1. Crypto-graph will be a much shorter price next month when he starts in the 1 1/8-mile Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

The Super Derby, a Grade 2, $500,000 stakes to be run on Sept. 25, is the next major objective for Cryptograph following his powerful win in last month's $100,000 Round Table at Arlington Park.

"He had to overcome a wide trip the entire way," said Von Hemel, who trains Cryptograph. "He did it very professionally.

DEL MAR, Calif. - For the third time in the past four days, no one hit the pick six on Monday at Del Mar, leading to a carryover of $124,720 entering Wednesday's card. There is no racing at Del Mar on Tuesday.

The pick six on Wednesday encompasses races three through eight.

In the third race, Beyond Our Wildest is being brought back at the same $25,000 level at which he won in fast time at Hollywood Park one month ago. The returning Hurricane Smoke has trained swiftly for his comeback.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Choctaw Nation and Pleasantly Perfect, who finished first and second in Sunday's San Diego Handicap, both emerged from the race in good condition and will meet again Aug. 22 in Del Mar's $1 million Pacific Classic, their trainers said Monday morning.

Choctaw Nation ran his record to 5 for 5 in the San Diego, which marked his stakes debut.

"He'll go in the Pacific Classic. He's earned it," said Jeff Mullins, who trains Choctaw Nation. "I don't know who else will be there, other than Pleasantly Perfect. It might be like last year, a four-horse field."

DEL MAR, Calif. - It is usually not trainer Neil Drysdale's style to wheel a horse back in only 10 days, especially following a Grade 1 race. So what's up with Sarafan coming back for Wednesday's $75,000 Escondido Handicap at Del Mar after competing in the Eddie Read Handicap on July 25?

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel said Monday he is itching to take on Azeri again with Sightseek. Frankel will get his wish. Azeri, the 1 3/4-length winner of Sunday's Grade 1 Go for Wand, and Sightseek, the runner-up, will meet next in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 27.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The connections of Smarty Jones lost out on a $5 million bonus when their 3-year-old was defeated in the Belmont Stakes by Birdstone. On Wednesday at Saratoga, another bonus is on the line, albeit a smaller one, in the $250,000 Cab Calloway.

Owners Donald and Mary Zuckerman will earn an extra $100,000 on top of the winner's share of the purse if West Virginia wins the 1 1/8-mile Cab Calloway, a division of the New York Stallion Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Winning the San Diego Handicap with Choctaw Nation, and upsetting Pleasantly Perfect in the process, made for a raucous winner's circle celebration on Sunday at Del Mar. But one member of the entourage had his eyes on a bigger prize.

"Forget that, we've got a pick six to win," said Scott Guenther.

On a day of upsets, Guenther had strung together the first five winners of Sunday's pick six. But he still had to get through the final leg, in which he had singled Golden Souvenir, who, like Choctaw Nation, is trained by Jeff Mullins.

DEL MAR, Calif. - After listening to nearly eight hours of testimony over three days, the Del Mar stewards concluded a hearing on Sunday regarding jockey Patrick Valenzuela's failure to take a hair-follicle test on July 1.

After the hearing, stewards Ingrid Fermin, George Slender, and Tom Ward indicated that they would issue a decision "in three or four days," Slender said.

Valenzuela could be reinstated or suspended. Valenzuela said he was disappointed that a decision was not issued on Sunday.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Rock Hard Ten and Lion Heart head the list of probable runners for the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational on Sunday at Monmouth Park.

The race lost a major contender over the weekend, when trainer Michael Dickinson withdrew Tapit from consideration after Tapit suffered an entrapped epiglottis during a workout at Delaware Park.

Tapit, the Wood Memorial winner, will undergo surgery to correct the problem, which will keep him out of the Haskell and the Travers at Saratoga.