MIAMI - Yes It's Gold was the even-money favorite and Punch Appeal a 14-1 outsider when the pair met for the first time four weeks ago in the J J'sdream Stakes. But those roles will be reversed when the two juvenile fillies match strides again in Friday's $40,000 Chispiski Stakes.

Punch Appeal rallied up the rail to post a surprisingly easy 4 1/4-length decision in the J J'sdream. Yes It's Gold, on the other hand, failed to show her abundant speed in her stakes debut and finished sixth, more than 13 lengths behind the winner.

Trainer Jack Bruner is not afraid to try something new with a horse. Last month, he won a tough two-turn turf race with confirmed turf sprinter Runaway Choice. This Friday at Louisiana Downs, he will attempt to do the same with Forest Landing.

Forest Landing was considered a promising dirt sprinter last year with three straight wins between Fair Grounds and Churchill Downs. But now he looks like the chief threat to favorite Rockchalk Jayhawk in the featured sixth race, a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance that carries an optional claiming price of $75,000.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Double Time's nine-win streak at Marquis Downs was stopped in his last race, and he will try to start another there in Friday's $5,000 Fred Mendel Memorial Handicap.

Double Time, the Saskatchewan horse of the year in 2003, has a solid record here, with 9 wins and 1 second from 11 starts, including four stakes victories. He should relish the one-mile distance of the Mendel. Double Time had two allowance victories and a win in the Early's Farm and Garden Handicap this year before being upset in the allowance prep for this event.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sunday's Chinese Cultural Centre Stakes, a 1 3/8-mile turf race with Grade 2 status and a purse of $300,000, is shaping up as the race of the young meeting.

Heading the probable lineup, which includes virtually every top local grass horse, is Perfect Soul, Canada's male turf champion of 2003.

Perfect Soul, a 6-year-old owned and bred by Charles Fipke and trained by Roger Attfield, finished second behind Strut the Stage in last year's running of the Chinese Cultural Centre.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - There's an old racetrack adage that 2-year-olds are the most honest racehorses, because they have yet to learn how to cheat. Two-year-olds may be as honest as they come, but there are times when they are consistently inconsistent.

Several of the more impressive debuting 2-year-olds at the current Woodbine meeting came back to bomb in their next start, usually at low odds.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Mick Ruis went from wrestling high school kids to wrestling with his emotions last summer at Del Mar. A newly minted apprentice jockey, with considerable backing from Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, Ruis was supposed to be the feel-good story of the summer. He was 16, bright, eager, and had the hometown fans pulling for him, since he was from Poway High School in San Diego County.

There was just one problem. He looked absolutely hopeless on a horse.

DEL MAR, Calif. - just might be the good-luck charm for trainer Jeff Mullins. Since the mare joined Mullins's barn last fall, Mullins has swept every training title in Southern California. He was first at last fall's Hollywood Park meeting, first at Santa Anita, and first at the recently completed Hollywood Park summer season.

Magnificent Val can help Mullins score an early-season victory at Del Mar. She will be the one to catch in Thursday's seventh race, which headlines a sleepy second day after the tumult of Wednesday's opener.

ELMONT, N.Y. - followed a pattern similar to last year's when he won a classified allowance race here June 24. If history continues to repeat itself, Almuhathir could make a second consecutive trip to the winner's circle Thursday, when he meets seven foes in the $60,000 Seeking the Gold Stakes at Belmont Park.

In 2003, Almuhathir wintered at Fair Grounds, ran poorly in his seasonal debut in New York in May, and reeled off consecutive victories at generous prices in June and July.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Crystal Harmony just won over $40,000 claiming opposition, and she returns at that level in Thursday's seventh race at Woodbine, which is scheduled for a mile on the grass.

Crystal Harmony, a 6-year-old mare, has ground out a good living over the expansive E.P. Taylor turf. She has won five races for earnings of $220,423 over the course, including two victories over middle distances last year. Perhaps her best effort was a 6 1/2-length tally over $50,000 claimers in October, for which she got a lifetime best Beyer Speed Figure of 94.

DEL MAR, Calif. - From 1 1/4 miles on turf in a Grade 1 stakes to seven furlongs on the main track against California-breds. That is the adjustment Western Hemisphere will make Saturday, when she turns back to a sprint and starts as a heavy favorite in the $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

The presence of Western Hemisphere was thought to scare away several rivals, but that is not the case. At least seven others are expected to be entered in the Fleet Treat, the supporting feature on a card headed by the Grade 1 John C. Mabee Handicap for female turf runners.