ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita announced on Wednesday that overnight purses will be cut 6.5 percent and that $450,000 has been eliminated from the stakes program because handle did not meet expectations through the first five weeks of the meeting.

According to a statement issued by the racetrack, total handle has fallen 11 percent. The losses have mostly come offtrack, with a 7 percent decline in statewide handle and a 17 percent drop in nationwide handle. Ontrack handle has fallen 2 percent, while ontrack attendance has risen 1 percent.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens will move to France in late March to ride the European flat season for leading trainer Andre Fabre.

Stevens, 40, said he would be based in France through November, with occasional trips to the United States for major stakes. Stevens will remain in California through mid-March, ride the Dubai World Cup program in the Middle East on March 27, and then move to France.

The first group stakes in France is run in March, and the season begins in earnest in early April.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Sum Trick was in the midst of a promising 3-year-old season when he was turned out to have a bone chip removed from a knee last May.

Sum Trick returned from a seven-month layoff to finish third in an allowance race for sprinters at Santa Anita on Jan. 4. Friday, he makes the second start of his comeback against 13 rivals in a $52,000 allowance race at seven furlongs.

The allowance race could lead to a stakes start for Sum Trick.

"I was happy with the way he came back," trainer Rafael Becerra said. "It was a tough field."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Ten months ago, Charge and Purely Classic finished one-two over the Gulfstream Park turf course in the Caltech Handicap. They'll match strides again Friday, but this time under allowance conditions for a much more modest $36,000 purse, in a field that also includes the graded stakes-placed Certifiably Crazy.

in the 2003 Caltech. Purely Classic had surged to a clear lead in early stretch as the 7-5 favorite that afternoon but proved no match for the winner near the wire.

NEW ORLEANS - Only six horses were entered in Friday's featured ninth race at Fair Grounds, but that may be enough for Flager. Flager's best races come when she is anchored behind the pace and makes one late run. The strategy requires legitimate front-runners, and despite the short field, there might be enough pace in this spot to set the table for .

PORTLAND, Ore. - Half a dozen 3-year-old Quarter Horses will vie over 350 yards in Friday night's $6,000-added Memorial Stakes at Portland Meadows.

A report issued on Tuesday by a committee in the Maryland House called for the state to own its own casinos and criticized any state policy that would award the licenses to racetracks only.

The report, which was largely fashioned by House Speaker Michael Busch, an opponent of racetrack slots, called for the slot machines to be owned and operated by the Maryland Stadium Authority. Management of the casinos would be put up for competitive bidding.

Lion Tamer, runaway winner of the 2003 Hutcheson Stakes, made a triumphant return from a 9 1/2-month layoff Wednesday at Gulfstream Park, posting an easy 2 1/4-length victory over seven overmatched rivals in the $38,000 allowance feature.

Lion Tamer was confidently handled by regular rider John Velazquez throughout the seven-furlong dash. Stalking the early pacesetters while well in hand, Lion Tamer readily forged to command approaching the stretch, edged clear leaving the turn, then increased his advantage while never asked to extend himself.

ALBANY, Calif. - All three of Ilha Grande's career victories have come in northern California - albeit at Bay Meadows - and trainer Paulo Lobo can hardly wait to head north from Hollywood Park with the 5-year-old mare for Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Brown Bess Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.

The field for the 1 1/16-mile turf race should be a full one, with at least eight fillies and mares seeking their first graded stakes victory and the decisions of several others possible starters still up in the air.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Gary Contessa won the training title at the last two inner-track meets at Aqueduct, but a three-peat appears unlikely.