LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Crunch time has arrived. Racing fans descending upon Churchill Downs this weekend will find the place to be organized chaos, an unavoidable result of what happens smack in the middle of a $121 million facelift.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - A full field of 12 older fillies and mares will compete in Friday's Bay Meadows feature, a first-level allowance race at 7 1/2 furlongs over the turf.

Bay Meadows will revert to afternoon racing for one last Friday because of the Kentucky Oaks and early Kentucky Derby wagering. Hollywood Park is also running an afternoon card.

Blue Imp, who has lost photos to Flirt with Danger in $12,500 starter allowance races in her past two starts, is the sharpest of the 12 runners, but she is stepping up for this race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike Keogh is back in town, after spending the off-season at Florida's Palm Meadows with a stopover at Keeneland.

The major goal of Keogh's southern mission was to prepare stable stars Wando, Mobil, and Six Sexy Sisters for their 2004 campaigns.

And while Wando was the only member of the trio - all owned and bred by Gustav Schickedanz - to make a significant contribution to his upkeep, Keogh is more than happy with the venture.

"They're all looking great," Keogh said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Conventional wisdom prior to the beginning of the Woodbine meeting was that horses who were winter-raced or winter-trained in the United States would have an edge early because of their fitness, a theory that has proven to be correct thus far.

Horsemen who spent the past winter in Ontario never got to ship into Woodbine until March 1 because of extensive barn renovations on the backstretch, which gave them just six weeks to prepare for opening day.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It is customary for horses shipped from New Zealand to be given several months to acclimate to California racing before they make their local debut.

On Friday, trainer John Sadler is taking a different approach with De La Costa, who makes his first American start in the fifth race at Hollywood Park, a $47,000 allowance race over 5 1/2 furlongs on turf

arrived in the U.S. in March, Sadler said. In New Zealand, De La Costa had 2 wins in 6 starts, with both wins in a two-week span last winter.

AUBURN, Wash. - After he won the opening-night allowance feature aboard Willie the Cat, jockey Ricky Frazier, who had just notched the 2,500th win of his career, predicted that his mount would soon be a stakes winner.

It wasn't the boldest of predictions since Willie the Cat had just blistered 5 1/2 furlongs in a track record 1:01.20, but it was certainly on target.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - It took jockey Kerwin John one week to win three races at Hollywood Park, the same number of wins he had in four months at Santa Anita earlier this year.

"It was really quiet over there," John said of Santa Anita.

The change of luck can be partially attributed to John switching agents. Before the Hollywood Park meeting started, John teamed with Sue McBrayer, a former assistant trainer to Mike Puype. Previously, John had employed Larry White, who works at Hollywood Park on the backstretch stable gate.

CHICAGO - In no time, Justin Johns has risen from gallop boy to head trainer. Johnathan, the best horse in the Johns barn, morphed from oaf to racehorse.

Johnathan - named for owner and breeder Carlene Kelley's favorite apple - is a callow gelding, 4 years of age. In a relative sense, Johns is even younger - 24.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - American Son tries to help reverse trainer Doug O'Neill's slow start to the Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting in Thursday's fourth race.

O'Neill, who won the training title with 37 victories here last summer, had one win from 17 starters in the first week of the meeting.

Thursday, O'Neill has eight runners in six races. He has at least one starter in each race from the third through eighth, which includes two $54,000 allowance races at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

starts from the rail in the fourth race, one of the co-features.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The middle ground at which Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses equally compete is typically 870 yards, or about four furlongs. For Thoroughbred sprinters and route horses, a fair matchup comes over a long one-turn distance - such as 7 1/2 furlongs, the distance of Thursday's Grade 3, $100,000 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs.