OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After three starts and two wins in six-furlong races, Quick Action will be asked to stretch his speed in Saturday's $75,000 Whirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct.

Trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who won the 1 1/16-mile Whirlaway last year with Boston Park, Quick Action was a 7 3/4-length winner of the Fred "Cappy" Capossela Stakes on Jan. 19. Before the Capossela, Quick Action finished fourth in the Maria's Mon, an overnight stakes, on Dec. 26. In his career debut on Nov. 15, Quick Action won a maiden race by 4 1/4 lengths over Aqueduct's main track.

The 2004 Fort Erie meeting, originally scheduled to end on Nov. 22, will now end Sept. 6 to allow for the construction of a new main track.

The new schedule, which will have to be approved by the Ontario Racing Commission, will include 81 live racing days. Original plans had called for a 117-day meet.

Butch Passero, a racetrack consultant, will assist in the project. Fort Erie's main track was a source of some concern last year, when three full cards plus most of two others were canceled.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - There is one striking similarity among most of the starters in Thursday's featured ninth race at Oaklawn, a six-furlong conditioned allowance for fillies and mares: They are coming off layoffs.

Glacial Victoire, who in her last start was fourth in the 2002 running of the Grade 3 Arlington Lassie, has been away from the races the longest. Others in the 10-horse field returning from extended layoffs include Bonita Rose, who last raced in March; Onda Ray, whose last out was in May; and Cahill Holy and Mavoreen, both of whom have not raced since July.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Gary Hartlage and jockey Joe Johnson have combined to win with four of nine starters this meet, and they have two good chances to pad their stats Thursday.

Hartlage and Johnson, who have worked together since 1987, will team with possible favorite Southern Stepper in the first race and leading contender Contested in the sixth, an entry-level allowance for 4-year-olds and upward. Both are returning from layoffs, but both have won at Oaklawn.

ALBANY, Calif. - Thursday starts what could be an exciting four days for trainer Lonnie Arterburn.

He runs the recently claimed After the Run in Thursday's Golden Gate Fields feature, a $40,000 claimer at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

On Friday, Lava Man, a much-improved 3-year-old who has won two straight on the turf, will meet Cal-bred rivals in a Santa Anita allowance race.

And over the weekend at Golden Gate Fields, Arterburn will start two of his best runners, Club Forty One in Saturday's Tanforan Handicap and Kilgowan in Sunday's Golden State Mile.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - January was a nice, relaxing month for trainer Nick Zito. He won a few races, put his top 3-year-olds back into serious training, and even picked up an Eclipse Award along the way with 3-year-old filly champion Bird Town.

But all that changes Wednesday when , one of Zito's three main Kentucky Derby hopefuls - along with Birdstone and The Cliff's Edge - swings back into action going seven furlongs under second-level allowance conditions at Gulfstream Park.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Steve Margolis had scheduled Cajun Beat's final workout for Saturday's $100,000 Deputy Minister Handicap for early Monday morning at the Palm Meadows training center here. But when heavy fog shrouded the course, making it impossible for Margolis to watch his horse train, he postponed the work until after the break, nearly two hours later.

When Cajun Beat finally got to work, Margolis loved what he saw.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The 2004 campaigns of Pleasantly Perfect and Congaree are likely to take divergent paths after they finished first and last in Saturday's $250,000 San Antonio Handicap at Santa Anita.

Trainer Richard Mandella said Pleasantly Perfect is bound for the $1 million Santa Anita Handicap on March 6 and might also run in the $6 million Dubai World Cup on March 27.

Congaree, who finished 8 1/4 lengths behind Pleasantly Perfect in the four-horse field, may spend the rest of his season in sprints, trainer Bob Baffert said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Mambo Dancer may relish the conditions Wednesday at Santa Anita when he makes his U.S. debut in a $56,000 allowance race.

An import from Chile, has won his last four starts, at distances from about seven furlongs to about 1 3/16 miles. Two of the wins were on muddy tracks, and the forecast Wednesday is for rain.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Cole Norman will be hoping for a fast track Wednesday when he starts Electrode in the featured eighth race at Oaklawn Park. Electrode, who has won half of his 12 career starts, is out to rebound from a sixth-place finish in the $60,000 Thanksgiving Handicap at Fair Grounds on Nov. 27.

"The track was sloppy and he just fell apart," said Norman, who trains Electrode for Jack Brooks.