LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Patti Cooksey waved her whip, then paused a second or two longer than usual when looking skyward. She quite possibly was asking for just a little more help. Getting through the final few furlongs of a career that had made her one of the most successful jockeys of her gender had not been easy for Cooksey, and as she dismounted from her final ride Thursday at Churchill Downs, she knew the hardest part was just beginning.

"I'm sad," she said minutes later, choking back as many tears as she could. "I'm real sad."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mark Casse will be a busy man here Sunday.

Not only will Casse have both Long Pond and Kent Ridge in the $1 million Queen's Plate, he also will be represented in the two stakes on the undercard, with Waltzin Storm going in the $219,000 Highlander, and Witness This in the $108,000 Charlie Barley.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Cherish Destiny has the speed to control her destiny in the $60,000 Dearly Precious Stakes Sunday at Monmouth Park.

She also gets the services of Joe Bravo, the leading rider at the meet, in the six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.

All Cherish Destiny needs to earn her first stakes victory is racing luck, a commodity in short supply thus far in the relationship between trainers Doug O'Neill and Kelly Breen.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Woodbine-based Rare Friends, Canada's champion 2-year-old male in 2001, will make his third Fort Erie start of the year in Sunday's six-furlong Niagara Falls Stakes.

Rare Friends ran here once last year, winning the Parnitha Stakes July 1, and is thus eligible for the "in-house" stakes program this season.

The Niagara Falls, restricted to runners who have made at least three starts at the Fort in 2003-2004, offers a base purse of $40,000.

There's only one dirt race on the Colonial Downs stakes schedule. When it's scheduled, Native Heir seems to be automatically entered.

Sunday will be no exception. A 6-year-old gelding trained by Phil Schoenthal for owner Michael Gill, Native Heir will be making his fourth appearance in the $50,000 W. Meredith Bailes Memorial, a six-furlong sprint for Virginia-bred or Virginia-sired older horses.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Larry Jones, Island Sand's trainer, said that his filly could win 10 races but that until she beats Ashado, the leader of the 3-year-old filly division, it won't hold much weight.

Island Sand, who was beaten by Ashado in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on April 30, gets another crack at the divisional leader in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 at Belmont Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - If you missed the Grade 3 Flash on June 4, you can catch a replay in Saturday's ungraded Tremont Stakes at Belmont Park.

The first three under the wire in the Flash - Primal Storm, Winning Expression, and Gold Joy - plus maiden winner June the Tiger, were entered in the $100,000-added Tremont.

Primal Storm, undefeated in two starts, including a seven-length romp in the Flash, is the one to beat in the 5 1/2-furlong race. Shane Sellers will ride Primal Storm for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Trainer Todd Pletcher brings two horses into Saturday's seven-furlong, $100,000 Mike Lee Stakes, the first leg of a three-race series for New York-bred horses. The pair figure to be two of the lowest-priced horses in the 12-horse field.

Choosing between the two means betting on potential or sticking to the tried-and-true.

The 3-year-old , a recent maiden winner, represents potential. He ran an eye-popping six furlongs in 1:08.48 in his June 6 debut to win by 17 1/2 lengths and earn a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest in the field.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - With better prize money available in the 3-year-old turf division in coming months, Laura's Lucky Boy could have been held out of Saturday's $150,000 Cinema Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.

But his convincing win in the Grade 3 Will Rogers Stakes on May 22 has made it obvious to owner Ernie Moody and trainer Jason Orman that the colt deserves another start - now.

"He's doing well and we want to take advantage of it while we can," Orman said.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Her lack of turf racing aside, Hollywood Story showed trainer John Shirreffs in a turf workout on Thursday that she deserves a shot on that surface in the $750,000 American Oaks at Hollywood Park on July 3.

There is little to lose in trying Hollywood Story on a new surface.

Already a Grade 1 stakes winner - she won the Hollywood Starlet Stakes last December - Hollywood Story will be an outsider in the Grade 1 Oaks, run over 1 1/4 miles on turf for 3-year-old fillies.