Shiny Sheet and Undercover, the two best horses in Saturday's $100,000 Geisha Handicap at Laurel Park, will have to overcome poor post positions. They will break from posts 8 and 9 in a field of nine Maryland-bred fillies and mares.

The 5-year-old Shiny Sheet, who comes into the Geisha off a win and a close third against open stakes company, drops back in with statebreds for the first time since finishing fifth against males in the 1 3/16-mile Maryland Million Classic in October. Her last three Beyer Speed Figures (90-96-97) are the best recent dirt figures in this field.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Sunland Park led the nation in starters per field last year at 9.9, and Saturday's $50,000-added KLAQ Handicap hits that number just about on the button, with a field of 10. The race, for 3-year-olds and upward at 5 1/2 furlongs, drew horses from tracks around the country, making for an excellent player's race.

PHOENIX - With the region's top juvenile filly, Bugsy Marrone, chasing bigger game elsewhere, it's a chance for 11 other 2-year-old fillies to try and grab the spotlight in Saturday's fillies division of the $25,000 Arizona Breeders Futurity at Turf Paradise.

In the $25,000 colt-and-gelding division, Samurai Nanao will likely be favored in a field of 12. The two events, which go as races 6 and 7, are both carded at six furlongs.

Turn to Lass, the runner-up in the Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs earlier this month, could be a slight favorite in Saturday's $40,000 Miss Mommy Stakes at Hawthorne. The six-furlong Miss Mommy attracted a field of six.

ANDERSON, Ind. - Edgerrin puts his perfect record on the line while trying a mile for the first time in the $35,000-added South Bend for 2-year-old Indiana-breds, the final stakes of the Hoosier Park meet.

Trained by Jeff Jones, Edgerrin was a most impressive maiden winner here on Nov. 6. Bumped at the start, he rallied strongly and drew off under wraps by 6 1/2 lengths while getting the six furlongs in 1:11.82.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The record books don't say a thing about Col. M. Lewis Clark's opinion on big fields, but it is probably safe to assume he was all for them.

It could be further assumed, then, that Col. Clark would be happy about what Churchill Downs has assembled in his honor. The $500,000 Clark Handicap, the traditional fall-meet showcase run at 1 1/8 miles, has drawn the maximum of 14 starters for its 129th running here Friday, and if a horseplayer doesn't get a little excited about betting into this one, well, he probably just doesn't get it.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The last time Steve Margolis saddled Request for Parole, the race was a pretty big one. In fact, it was the 2002 Kentucky Derby, a race in which Request for Parole finished fifth behind War Emblem.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - He was bred and raised in the lush bluegrass of Kentucky. He is owned by a wealthy Texan and trained by a cool Californian. But Congaree is a New Yorker at heart.

And not a hoity-toity New Yorker, the kind who surfaces only during the spring and summer at beautiful Belmont Park or historic Saratoga. No, Congaree is a blue-collar New Yorker. One who braves the whipping winds off Jamaica Bay and ignores the deafening roars of 747's whizzing overhead en route to nearby John F. Kennedy Airport to excel at aesthetically challenged Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Tony Dutrow is in the rare position of not only having a major contender for Friday's Grade 2, $150,000 Top Flight Handicap, but also having intimate knowledge of one of his filly's major challengers.

The Maryland-based Dutrow will ship in Willa on the Move for the Top Flight, and among her chief rivals in the field of 12 fillies and mares will be Randaroo, a 3-year-old whom Dutrow trained for her first eight starts.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - King Robyn has had a perfect campaign in Southern California this year - he has won a stakes at all five of the circuit's race meetings.

To stretch that streak to six, King Robyn will need a career-best performance in Friday's $100,000 Hollywood Turf Express at Hollywood Park.