MIAMI - Racing secretary Bob Umphrey was hoping he might fill one of the two races for 2-year-old winners that he had written for Sunday's program. So the usually reserved Umphrey was positively ecstatic when he was able to make both of his juvenile races go, one with an eight-horse field and the second with seven.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Although he has started only nine horses, trainer Genaro Vallejo has proved he knows what he's doing, having won three times.

Vallejo isn't afraid to take a calculated risk, as he did when he entered Eight Karat in the San Jose Handicap last month. The filly ran third behind Heavenly Humor and Secret Corsage in a strong effort.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mobil and his trainer, Mike Keogh, checked back into Woodbine on Tuesday afternoon, tired but otherwise none the worse following their trip to New York for Monday's Met Mile.

After watching Mobil finish last of nine in the Met Mile, beaten 11 1/2 lengths, Keogh offered no excuse. Mobil had worked well for the race since capturing his seasonal debut, the Grade 3 Vigil at seven furlongs here on May 1.

"They were just too tough for him," Keogh said. "I'll give him a week off and let him get over the race, and the journey."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shadow Hawk, an impeccably bred 5-year-old by Mr. Prospector, will move up in class off a sharp-looking win in Friday's Woodbine feature, a second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

Shadow Hawk commenced his career with trainer Bob Baffert in Southern California, where he failed to hit the board in his first four starts in 2002. He was sent to Kentucky last fall, and finally won in a dead heat Nov. 14 in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Millennium Dragon will get a stamina test in Saturday's Grade 1, $400,000 Manhattan Handicap.

A Grade 3 winner, Millennium Dragon has yet to run beyond 1 1/8 miles, but his connections are eager to try the 5-year-old in the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan on the turf.

In his last start, Millennium Dragon finished second in the 1 1/8-mile Dixie at Pimlico on May 15. The horse encountered traffic problems in the stretch and was beaten two lengths by Mr O'Brien, who also will run in the Manhattan.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Midwest-based trainer Larry Jones expected to make his New York debut later this month when he planned to run Island Sand in the Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park on June 26. But, circumstances combined to move his itinerary up a little, and now Jones is in the Big Apple to saddle Island Sand in Friday's Grade 1, $250,000 Acorn Stakes.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Since winning the 1987 Tremont Stakes with Morgan's Levee, trainer Rusty Arnold has been a nonparticipant in New York's early-season 2-year-old stakes.

Thursday, however, Arnold could have the horse to beat in the $75,000 Fashion Stakes for juvenile fillies when he sends out Limited Entry against four other first-out maiden winners and a first-time starter in the five-furlong race.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Hirapour's absence from Thursday's $100,000-added Meadow Brook Steeplechase at Belmont Park is especially good news for the connections of the remaining horses in the field.

Hirapour, a Grade 1 winner in open company, would have been the heavy favorite to win the 2 1/2-mile Meadow Brook for novice jumpers, but a respiratory illness will keep him in his barn.

The Grade 1 Meadow Brook, which features 12 jumps, will be run as the first race on the card. On-and-off rain is in the two-day forecast and a less-than-firm turf course is possible.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainers Donna Elordi and Jerry Hollendorfer both picked the right spot for their horses at Bay Meadows last weekend.

Elordi nominated stakes-winning Vallarta to Monday's Grade 3 Seabiscuit Breeders' Cup on the main track, but she and owner Paul Girdner opted instead to run in an $80,000 claimer on the turf Sunday. The decision resulted in a nose victory.

Hollendorfer, who had reclaimed Yougottawanna for $80,000 after losing him for $50,000, stepped up the 5-year-old gelding into stakes company and won the Seabiscuit by three-quarters of a length.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Slew Valley made an auspicious local debut in last Sunday's Connaught Cup.

But after watching Slew Valley win while covering the 1 1/16 miles on turf in a quick 1:40.24, the horse's trainer, Reade Baker, considered himself lucky.

"He ran super, for a short horse," said Baker. "I think I needed to train him a lot harder than I did; he's a huge horse. He was exhausted in the winner's circle, and was still exhausted the next morning."