The morning of the Genuine Risk Handicap, was outfitted with a patch for a quarter crack in a hind foot she had sustained a week before. With the patch in place, Bear Fan ran a monstrous race to win the Grade 2 Genuine Risk at Belmont Park by five lengths on May 9.

Bear Fan's trainer, Wesley Ward, believes the 5-year-old mare he bred and co-owns is ready for another super effort in the $150,000 Vagrancy Handicap.

"She's coming out of her skin," Ward said. "I think she will run the race of her life."

The bettors who got burned when Southern California shipper Speedy Falcon ran fourth, beaten 7 3/4 lengths, as the 1-5 favorite in last Saturday's Go for Wand Stakes understandably might consider the 3-year-old filly to be overrated.

What they saw, however, wasn't anything close to her best. The combination of too much travel and a much different surface than she was accustomed to out West proved too much of a hurdle for Speedy Falcon to overcome.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Slowly but surely, the Steve Asmussen juggernaut is taking a firm hold in Kentucky, just as it has in more westerly parts. In at least one of his specialties - 2-year-old racing - Asmussen has become a tour de force in the state, winning early-season races with precocious sorts such as Posse and Cuvee since the trainer became a circuit mainstay several years ago.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Ema Bovary, riding a nine-race winning streak, has scared away so much of the competition for Saturday's Desert Stormer Handicap at Hollywood Park that track officials were contemplating Thursday morning whether to run the race.

As of mid-morning Thursday, the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Handicap had only three confirmed entries - Coconut Girl, Ema Bovary, and Hope Rises. Track officials said the race was likely to be run, but would be held early in the program, far from the lucrative pick six. First post is 12:50 p.m.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The $175,000 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park on Saturday offers an enticing purse, but that is not the only thing the connections of most of the 3-year-old fillies in the field are hoping to get out of the race.

They are hoping to parlay a win or a runner-up finish into an invitation to the $750,000 American Oaks here on July 3.

With the American Oaks expected to attract fillies from around the world, a locally based filly needs a strong performance in the Grade 2 Honeymoon to gain an invitation.

CHICAGO - Mickey Goldfine has trained graded-stakes grass horses before. If he thinks the 3-year-old colt Wild Eventure will be at least as good on turf as he has been on dirt, perhaps that is enough for handicappers.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - About the time Smarty Jones attempts to race into immortality by negotiating 1 1/2 miles, 3-year-olds at Louisiana Downs will be dealing with only half that distance in the $50,000 Airline Stakes. Seven were entered in the six-furlong sprint.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Boots on Sunday, who was scheduled to make his comeback from a tendon injury last Monday in the $50,000 Carter McGregor Jr. Memorial Stakes at Lone Star Park, has been retired, said his trainer, Danny Pish.

"It's official," said Pish, who trained Boots on Sunday for Wilton Scott.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - Two trainers in Saturday's $40,000 African Prince Stakes at Suffolk Downs are hoping they can catch the leading 3-year-old Massachusetts-breds at the right time.

The African Prince is the first 3-year-old statebred race this year.

Gerry Souto will send out Episode on Tour for only his third career race, and Bill Lagorio will saddle the filly Teeney Bubbles. Both have to hope Strongestsoverign and Senor Ladd - who finished one-two when this division got together last fall in the Norman Hall Stakes - have come back to their competition.

ALTOONA, Iowa - Pick of the Pack may prove to be just that when she squares off against six other 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's $50,000 Panthers Stakes at Prairie Meadows.

Pick of the Pack is the only stakes winner entered in the Panthers and exits by far the toughest race, having finished fourth, beaten 6 1/4 lengths, in the Grade 3 La Troienne at Churchill on April 29 for trainer Bernie Flint.