MUSKEGON, Mich. - Freddie Mata just had one of the best weeks of his career, but will have to wait several weeks to have another. The Great Lakes Downs jockey was injured in a training accident Tuesday morning and will be on the sidelines for an undetermined amount of time.

Mata cracked a bone in his ankle when a juvenile flipped with him while schooling at the gate. He attended Tuesday evening's races complete with cast and crutches.

"I got tired of winning all the races," he joked.

A pair of $100,000 turf stakes for 2-year-olds will once again highlight the 39-date Thoroughbred meet at Retama Park near San Antonio. The season will open on July 23 and continue through Sept. 18.

The Ketel One El Joven and the La Senorita, for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf, are two of the biggest races of the season at Retama. They top a 14-race stakes schedule worth $930,000. The juvenile stakes will be run on Sept. 4.

Jockeys Perry Ouzts and Marco Ccamaque recorded riding triples this past week, with Ouzts accomplishing the feat twice.

Ouzts won three races on Saturday's six-race card, with Proud Token ($4.80), Bayowolf ($7.80), and Six Pack Mike ($8.20). He repeated the feat Tuesday with victories aboard Lady Offense ($5), Fit and Bushy ($16.60), and Colby Flash ($6.60).

Ccamaque booted home three winners on Sunday: Mighty Mercer ($6.20), True Aries ($6.80), and Hy Maureen ($6.60).

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Track superintendent John Banno and his crew worked their magic again last weekend at Thistledown. Several visiting trainers who shipped in for the Ohio Derby and saw the sloppy track late Friday evening were in disbelief Saturday when the track was fast by noon.

Ontrack betting on Saturday's Grade 2 Ohio Derby was up 2 percent from last year. Total ontrack handle was $984,896, compared with $965,622 last year.

TORONTO, Ontario - Thirty-six stakes races, worth a record total of $2.07 million, will be be run during the 2004 Northlands Park meeting. The Edmonton, lberta, track begins its season next Friday.

The highlight of the meeting, as always, will be the Aug. 28 Canadian Derby, which this year receives a $100,000 purse boost to $250,000.

"We wanted to get the purse up, to attract some outside horses," said Fred Hilts, Northlands racing secretary. "For $250,000 we might get some more interest from Eastern Canada and the U.S., particularly from the western states."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario -The last time trainer Danny Vella was represented in the Queen's Plate was 1998, when his three-horse Stronach Stable entry of Platino, Star on Fire, and Yodelman brought up the rear in the 13-horse field.

But Vella, who spent most of the ensuing five years running Team Stronach's Adena Springs operation in Florida, is anticipating a much better result in this year's $1 million Queen's Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds here June 27.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Favorites dominated the stakes at Assiniboia Downs last weekend, as the public's choice won all three races.

Shanghied improved his record to 2 for 2 in Friday's Golden Boy. Trained by Bert Blake and ridden by Travis Hightower, Shanghied returned $4.90 to win.

A son of A.P. Indy, Shanghied ran six furlongs in 1:11.60 and earned $24,000, raising lifetime earnings to $31,410.

Skipper finished second, with Stonewall Harris third.

On Saturday, Ericka's Lass took her third consecutive stakes, with a victory in the Chantilly.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The first meeting between two-time defending divisional champion Azeri and multiple Grade 1 winner Sightseek will take place Saturday at Belmont Park in the $300,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap.

Only two other runners - 2002 juvenile filly champion Storm Flag Flying and Grade 1 winner Passing Shot - are expected for the Grade 1 Phipps, known as the Hempstead Handicap before last year. Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race are to be taken on Thursday.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Artie Schiller and Timo, two of the top 3-year-old turf horses on the East Coast, have already met four times in their brief careers. The fifth meeting will have to wait.

Artie Schiller, who has beaten Timo three times, including a 1 3/4-length score in the Grade 3 Hill Prince here on June 6, is being pointed to the $500,000 Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs on July 10. Timo, who defeated Artie Schiller in last year's Pilgrim Stakes, is expected to make his next start in the $200,000 Arlington Classic on July 3 at Arlington Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - After a disappointing sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay Handicap last month, Alternate takes a drop in class Thursday when she meets four rivals in a $56,000 classified allowance race at Belmont Park.

Thursday's race, run at 1 1/4 miles over the inner turf course, is a prep for the Grade 2, $250,000 New York Handicap to be run here on July 5.