HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Holthus, who swept both stakes opening weekend at Oaklawn Park, will try to extend his streak on Saturday when he sends out Skeet and Salty Genius in the $50,000 King Cotton.

The six-furlong race is the third stakes of the meet at Oaklawn.

Holthus leads the standings at the track after one week of racing, with three wins from nine starters. It is a familiar place for the 69-year-old, who has won more races at Oaklawn than any other trainer. In all, Holthus has racked up nine titles at the track, second only to Henry Forrest, who won 11.

PORTLAND, Ore. - White Thoroughbreds are prized not only for their beauty, but for their extreme rarity.

In that respect, breeder Dalene Knight, who operates Painted Desert Farm in Redmond, Ore., along with partner Don Irvine, may be too successful for her own good.

GROVE CITY, Ohio - Beulah Park has shown a 71 percent increase in total handle compared to last year's corresponding meeting through the first 13 days of the winter-spring meet.

Beulah's management decided to go with a five-day-per-week schedule in January this year as opposed to four days per week in 2003. The change allows the track to take advantage of the lack of other signals in the simulcast market during the winter months.

Bejoyfulandrejoyce, who won the $100,000 Louisiana Champions Day Ladies at Fair Grounds in 2000, will return from nearly a three-year layoff in the seventh race at Delta Downs Friday night. The seven-furlong allowance, which will be contested around two turns, is for fillies and mares and carries a purse of $28,000.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Hometown boy Casey Lambert and California transplant Ken Tohill are engaged in a tight jockey race that may continue to the conclusion of the Sunland meet. Lambert and Tohill won a race apiece on Tuesday and start Friday's card deadlocked at 29 wins with 43 racing days remaining.

Burnin' Memories, who upset Grade 3 winner Eagle Lake in the $50,000 San Jacinto on Nov. 15, is shooting for her third straight win Friday night in the sixth race at Sam Houston. The one-mile turf allowance for fillies and mares also drew stakes winners Showmetothevilla, Devout Sinner, Sound of Gold, Sarastorm, and Strawbailey.

Burnin' Memories was up for a neck win in the San Jacinto, catching 1-5 favorite and pacesetter Eagle Lake. Following that race, Burnin' Memories won a one-mile starter allowance on turf on Jan. 2. Trainer Danny Pish has given the mount to Ted Gondron.

NEW ORLEANS - The Louisiana-bred turf horses Coach Rags and Mr. Sulu have squared off many times the last three seasons. Usually, they're clearly the two most accomplished horses in a statebred stakes or allowance race, but when they meet again in the Thursday feature at Fair Grounds, the rivalry will have a twist. The aging pair contests an open allowance, and this is no match race.

NEW ORLEANS - By Tuesday morning, whatever proud memories Fire Slam possessed of winning the Lecomte Stakes were fading into a cloud of annoyance. Fire Slam's left hind foot was painful, yet all that the people around him wanted to do was mess with it.

Gov. Robert Ehrlich of Maryland has proposed adding slot machines to four racetracks in the state along with building two new casinos along the state's major highway in a compromise plan designed to satisfy critics of racetrack-only gambling licenses.

Ehrlich unveiled the plan on Monday, one day before a scheduled hearing on expanded gambling in the state legislature. At the hearing, House Speaker Michael Busch, a critic of awarding gambling licenses solely to racetracks, was expected to unveil a report calling for slot-machine licenses to be put up for competitive bids.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The first foal produced by the mare Miss Snowflake turned out to be Snow Chief, the champion 3-year-old colt of 1986, a multiple Grade 1 winner and an earner of $3.3 million.

It has taken nearly 20 years, but Miss Snowflake may finally have produced another horse worth talking about. Reine des Neiges, a daughter of Smart Strike, has won five of six starts since relocating from Southern California to the East Coast. Saturday, the Philadelphia Park-based mare will attempt to win her first stakes when she runs in the $75,000 Correction Handicap at Aqueduct.