CALGARY, Alberta - On Friday, the eve of the Alberta Derby, the $100,000 highlight of this 47-day meeting, it is fitting that trainer Red Smith and rider Quincy Welch - runaway leaders in their respective categories - will join forces in the featured ninth race with the honest 7-year-old mare J. R. Hatfield.

Smith, on his way to yet another training title here, was fined for entering J. R. Hatfield in the wrong race a week ago, necessitating a scratch, but the indiscretion was one of the few things the veteran trainer has done wrong this spring.

AUBURN, Wash. - Three-year-old Go Devil Go will take on older rivals in Friday's Emerald Downs feature, a 6 1/2-furlong test for $25,000 optional claiming company that has drawn a field of 10.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There are racing circuits, like Maryland, that always seem to have at least one hot apprentice jockey. Not Chicago, which has a stable - some would say cemented - jockey colony for much of the year, and in Rene Douglas, a perennial kingpin during the summer.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Frisky Spider was in a lively mood Wednesday morning at Monmouth Park. He zipped three furlongs on the turf in 34.60 seconds in preparation for the $60,000 Restoration Stakes for 3-year-olds at one mile on the grass on Saturday.

"He's been training very well," said trainer Bob Durso, who has been looking forward to getting Frisky Spider on turf. "He really took to the grass in his last two workouts."

ALTOONA, Iowa - Belmont Stakes weekend is one that Prairie Meadows-based trainer Larry Jones will never forget.

Jones, a 47-year-old native of Kentucky, saddled his first Grade 1 winner when Island Sand and jockey Terry Thompson won the $250,000 Acorn Stakes on June 4 at Belmont Park. It was the first time that Jones and Thompson had ever raced at Belmont.

The weekend was far from over for Jones, however. That night Flaming Dixie, another 3-year-old filly trained by Jones, captured the feature race here, a two-other-than-allowance against older mares.

The field for Saturday's $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup at Lone Star Park grew to seven Wednesday morning when Grade 2 winner Della Francesca pulled into the track's backstretch. The 1 1/8-mile race is the richest turf race of the meet. Other top contenders in the race include Warleigh, Waupaca, and Star Over the Bay.

MIAMI - Trainer Kathleen O'Connell could see trouble coming for Tiz a Dancer in Saturday's Office Queen Stakes before it even happened.

"They were crawling up front, and she was trapped behind the leaders on the rail," O'Connell recalled. "I could see it all unfolding. It was like a horrible nightmare."

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Ralph Martinez is the Bobby Frankel of Fairmount Park. No matter the conditions, everything Fairmount Park's perennial top trainer sends out is live.

"You can't expect to claim the Kentucky Derby winner," said Martinez, speaking of his stable's ethos, which forgoes breeding in favor of savvy claiming from tracks nationwide. "But by the same token, there's only one Kentucky Derby winner every year."

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Eight to 10 starters are expected for Sunday's $100,000 Lady Canterbury Stakes, according to stakes coordinator, Steve Ruff. Leading the list of possible entrants in the one-mile turf race is Bedanken, winner of eight stakes events including Keeneland's Valley View and the Bayou Breeders' Cup Handicap at Fair Grounds, both Grade 3 races.

CARENCRO, La. - Trials for the $100,000 D.S. "Shine" Young Futurity were run Saturday night - and as impressive as the three winners were, the final should prove to be quite a shootout. The top four finishers in each of the qualifying trials will line up on July 3.

Mr. Excellent ($2.60) started things off in the first trial with a front-running, 2 3/4-length win in a time of 1:00.25 for the five furlongs. The son of Excavate remained unbeaten, having won his debut in maiden special weight company on June 3.