ARCADIA, Calif. - Anything less than a win by in Sunday's $100,000 Providencia Stakes at Santa Anita will be a disappointment for trainer Patrick Biancone.

Run over a mile on turf for 3-year-old fillies, the Providencia has been Mambo Slew's goal since she won the Grade 3 Miesque Stakes at Hollywood Park last fall in her stakes debut.

The Providencia is Mambo Slew's third start of the meeting. She won the Blue Norther Stakes by three lengths in January and was second to Ticker Tape in the China Doll Stakes on March 18.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Castledale has lost weight since his upset win in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3 and is not definite to travel to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby on May 1, according to trainer Jeff Mullins.

Castledale resumed training Wednesday, but had only light exercise through Friday.

Mullins said he will wait to make a decision on Castledale's status for the Kentucky Derby until after Castledale has another week of exercise and after consulting with owners Greg Knee and Frank Lyons.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sunday's $60,000 Yankee Affair Stakes is carded at five furlongs on the turf and, not surprisingly, drew a number of turf sprint specialists, such as Ghostly Numbers, True Love's Secret, Callthesheriff, and Take Achance on Me. But it wouldn't be surprising if the winner is one of three horses who have never won a race on grass.

have limited turf experience and nary a single grass victory between them. But all have enough speed and class to give the logical choices a run for their money.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Magna Entertainment Corp. and a group from the Bay Meadows Land Company each applied for racing dates in northern California for 2005 at the California Horse Racing Board dates committee meeting Thursday in Sacramento.

The proposals will force the CHRB to decide which of the two groups runs the 2005 race meets at Bay Meadows.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Perfect Soul goes with Keeneland like a smooth sip of Kentucky bourbon. So it was appropriate that Perfect Soul ran his record to 3 for 3 at this track on Friday, with a late-running victory in the $200,000 Maker's Mark Mile.

A crowd of 21,737, a record for a Friday at Keeneland, turned out for the Good Friday card and was treated to a thrilling Grade 2 stakes race. Perfect Soul, making his first start since last fall's Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita, came flying down the center of the turf course to catch Burning Roma and Royal Spy in the final yards.

Society Selection overcame traffic problems around the far turn to score an impressive-looking three-length win over Bending Strings in the Grade 3, $112,000 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct on Friday.

It was Society Selection's first win since the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont Park on Oct. 4. In two starts this year in Gulfstream Park stakes, Society Selection had lost as the favorite.

Shake You Down showed grit to hold off a late bid by Where's the Ring and win the Grade 3, $150,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap by a head Thursday at Oaklawn Park. It was another 1 1/4 lengths back to Aloha Bold in third.

Shake You Down ($4.80) broke slowly but rushed up for the lead soon afterward, and was clear through fractions of 21.80 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.60 seconds for the half. He went on to cover the six furlongs in 1:09.27.

CALGARY, Alberta - Brighton Belle heads a field of six older fillies and mares in Sunday's featured fourth race at Stampede Park, a four-furlong optional claimer with a $21,300 purse

Bred and owned by Dr. David Reid, the chairman of Horse Racing Alberta, the 6-year-old Brighton Belle is a stakes winner with lifetime earnings of $152,261 and is a perfect fit in this race.

Brighton Belle is rarely headed away from the gate and has posted a strong work tab this spring for trainer Rod Heggie, including a bullet four-furlong move March 24.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Ema Bovary, voted the horse of the meeting at Golden Gate Fields, carried the banner for northern California in winning the seven-furlong Vinery Madison at Keeneland on Wednesday.

Her success made up for fourth- and sixth-place finishes by O.K. Mikie and Kilgowan in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne the previous Saturday.

All three came out of their races well, but only O.K. Mikie has returned to northern California.

Louisiana Downs has made some minor changes to its stakes schedule, but not to the Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby, which will remain at 1 1/8 miles and again be held in the fall, on Sept. 25. The track will open for 102 days of racing on May 14, and the meet will continue through Oct. 31.

The new $50,000 John Franks Memorial for Louisiana-breds on turf is the first of 64 stakes during the meet. The race is designed to complement the renaming of the turf course in honor of Franks, a prominent Louisiana-based owner and breeder who died Dec. 31.