INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Paulo Lobo, the 35-year-old Brazilian-born trainer, introduced himself to American racing with the success of Farda Amiga in 2002. Farda Amiga gave Lobo his first major American win in the Kentucky Oaks and later that year won the Alabama Stakes en route to winning the Eclipse Award as the champion 3-year-old filly.

This year, Lobo's stable is led by Pico Central and Quero Quero. Both are likely to start on Monday - Pico Central in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park and Quero Quero in the Gamely Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The initial benefits of recently passed legislation that will reduce the costs of workers' compensation insurance paid by horsemen will be implemented on Saturday, with a starter's fee paid to the owners of horses who do not earn part of the purse.

The amount will vary throughout the state. On the Southern California circuit, owners whose horses finish fifth or worse will receive $400. In northern California, they will receive $300.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Balestrini and Fantastic Spain, 4-year-olds expected to play a role in major turf stakes later this year, seek their first win of 2004 in a $50,000 allowance race at Hollywood Park on Wednesday.

They are expected to dominate the turf race over 1 1/4 miles, which has drawn seven entrants.

won his debut by three lengths last June over 1 1/16 miles on turf. He was beaten a nose in an allowance race over the same distance on May 8 in his third start.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Trainer Steve Asmussen, who has won four of the last five runnings of the fillies division of the Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity, will have starters in each of the three trial races for this year's running Wednesday night at Lone Star Park.

The trials will be contested as the second, fourth, and sixth races and open an extended six-day race week that closes with the annual Lone Star Million Day on Monday, Memorial Day. The $150,000 fillies finale of the restricted TTA Sales Futurity is set for June 12.

R.D. Williams took command of the local jockey standings at Lincoln State Fair by winning eight straight races over the Friday and Saturday cards.

Williams rode four winners Friday night. He scored aboard even-money favorite My Gal Jeanie in the fourth, then swept the final three races of the night with Lite Source ($7.20) in the sixth, Mason County ($4.80) in the seventh, and Felena ($4.80) in the eighth.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Nine-year-old Mr. Epperson, Canada's champion sprinter in 2001, heads the second race at Woodbine Wednesday, an $80,000 optional claimer scheduled for six furlongs on the grass.

Heavy rains hit the Toronto area over the weekend, which could lead to Wednesday's second race being taken off the turf, but Mr. Epperson can handle either surface when he's on his game.

Mark One stalked the pace under regular rider Robert Landry and rallied up the inside to prevail by 2 1/2 lengths and become a stakes winner in Monday's $163,350 Eclipse Handicap at Woodbine.

The 1 1/16-mile Eclipse, a Grade 3 race for 4-year-olds and upward, was a virtual rerun of its May 2 allowance prep, in which Mark One chased front-running Open Concert and rallied to win by a neck on a sloppy surface.

"My horse wasn't really on the bridle early," said Landry, "but he was on the bridle when it counted."

Canterbury Park canceled its final eight races on Sunday as a result of unsafe track conditions. Members of the local jockey colony conferred with track officials after the third race and elected not to ride the remainder of the card, citing the conditions resulting from three straight days of rain.

Quarter Horse trials scheduled as part of Sunday's card were rescheduled for Friday evening.

As a result of the cancellation, the Grade 3 Bayer Legend Central Challenge Stakes, originally scheduled for June 5, has been rescheduled for Friday, June 11.

CALGARY, Alberta - The sloppy racing surface that greeted the 10 runners in last Sunday's $40,000 Teeworth Plate had favored speed all day.

Leading trainer Red Smith saddled Deputy Country, who at 30-1 was the longest shot on the board in the one-mile handicap, and his only instruction to rider Richard Hamel was to "send hard out of the gate."

On a day when only one winner came from farther back than second after a quarter-mile, the strategy was sound. But it is one thing to devise a plan, and another to implement it.

CHICAGO - Last week, Greg Geier said everything was clicking for his stable. And things hadn't even gotten really good then.

Saturday, more luck rained down on Geier's stable. Arlington's turf course was too soggy to use, and the featured overnight handicap was shifted to dirt. Princess Pelona, who Geier trains for owner Pope McLean, would have been something like fourth choice on grass, but on the main track she was an odds-on favorite and won by 4 1/2 lengths.