BOSSIER CITY, La. - No Place Like It, the only stakes winner in the field, is clearly the horse to beat in Saturday's $50,000 Bossier City Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds at Louisiana Downs.

Following his win in the $200,000 USA stakes at Lone Star on Memorial Day, No Place Like It tested graded company for the first time in the Virginia Derby on July 10. An eighth-place finish in that race put an end to a three-race winning streak that began modestly enough in a $30,000 maiden claimer at Lone Star April 15.

ALTOONA, Iowa - Former claimer Ask the Lord heads a field of seven in Saturday's $75,000 Prairie Meadows Handicap.

Ask the Lord is the 120-pound highweight in the 1 1/8-mile race and must concede from two to eight pounds to his rivals.

Since being claimed for $62,500 on Oct. 26 last year, the 7-year-old Ask the Lord has won 6 of 9 starts for trainer Bernie Flint, including four stakes, while earning more than $220,000.

Barnsy, a dominating winner of the Petro Memorial at Thistledown last month, should be a solid favorite to notch her second stakes win of the year in the Queen City Oaks at River Downs. The nine-furlong Oaks is the richest Ohio-bred race of the meet, with a purse of $75,000.

Bettors will have their work cut out trying to sort through the $50,000 Retama Park Turf Breeders' Cup, a 1 1/16-mile stakes. A field of 11 was entered, and many have a legitimate shot.

The likely favorites include Fly Slama Jama, April's Lucky Boy, and Virginia Pride. Fly Slama Jama, who captured the restricted Texas Hall of Fame Stakes over the local turf last fall, won his first race since then in a third-level allowance at the end of the Lone Star meet. Though he led throughout to win that day, he is not a one-dimensional runner.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - One week after classy shipper It's Lucky romped by 17 lengths at Fairmount Park in the Spend a Buck Stakes, the local horses will get a bit of a breather in the $30,000 Forego Handicap, a mile and 70-yard race for colts and geldings.

Rarely does a trifecta look as clear cut as in this six-horse field of Fairmount veterans. The 5-year-olds Robin Zee and Canyon de Oro look like legitimate favorites at 7-5 and 8-5 on the track's morning line.

Grande Diablo heads a group of eight 2-year-olds in the inaugural running of the John Franks Memorial Stakes at Evangeline Downs. The five-furlong sprint was formerly known as the Evangeline Sales Stakes and is restricted to horses who passed through the sales ring at the 2004 Evangeline Downs 2-year-old sale, held in March.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The first carryover of the Del Mar meeting highlights Thursday's eight-race program.

A string of tricky longshots was difficult to find during Wednesday's pick six, leaving a carryover of $138,781 for Thursday.

Thursday's pick six covers the third through eighth races, including three sprints on dirt, a route on dirt and two races on turf.

Here is a glance at the changes, as of scratch time on Wednesday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - By next summer, trainer Allen Iwinski will be out of Thoroughbred racing, putting all his focus on recovering from the potentially fatal disease hepatitis C. Iwinski plans eventually to return to the game, but there are no guarantees.

For now, however, Iwinski is concentrating on still trying to win races while downsizing and eventually dispersing his entire stable. Saturday, Iwinski will try to win the biggest race of his career when he saddles Humor Me Molly in the Grade 1, $250,000 Test Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Coming off a good effort in the Grade 1 United Nations, returns to his preferred distance in Friday's $150,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap, the first of 16 turf stakes scheduled at the Saratoga meet.

The eight-horse field includes stakes winners Silver Tree, Quest Star, Irish Colonial, Union Place, and Quiet Ruler. Evening Attire, a Grade 1 winner on the dirt, was entered to run on the turf, but the gelding's trainer, Pat Kelly, said he might scratch if the turf is soft.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Crank up the spin machine to high, but the raw fact of the matter is this: Last Song did not try very hard in her last race.

That, at least, was the opinion of Team Carl Nafzger after Last Song finished third as the even-money favorite in a third-level allowance race July 9 at Arlington Park.

"We might have to try blinkers on her," Ian Wilkes, Nafzger's assistant, said after Last Song's race.