VANCOUVER, British Columbia - With a long-distance Tomlinson rating of 397, Amarillo Star should be able handle the 1 3/8 miles of the seventh race at Hastings, a $6,000 optional claimer/starter allowance for 3-year-olds and up. It's a bit surprising that, up until now, his trainer and part-owner, Alex Murray, hasn't tried Amarillo Star at a distance longer than 1 1/8 miles.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Americas Pride will head a field of nine 3-year-old fillies in Saturday's $10,000 Lassie Stakes at six furlongs.

The Lassie, the eighth of 10 live races, will share top billing with the $6,000-added Portland Meadows Fall Derby Finals for 3-year-old Quarter Horses going 440 yards, which will go as the nightcap with 11 contestants.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - By mid-morning Thursday, trainer Pat Kelly was resigned to fact that lightning would not strike for the second consecutive year.

A year ago, Kelly entered Evening Attire as a main-track-only entrant in the Grade 2 Red Smith, scheduled for 1 3/8 miles on turf. The race was moved to the dirt and Evening Attire galloped to an eight-length victory.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Elliott Walden is hoping the wait is worth it. Walden scratched Dyna Da Wyna out of the Mrs. Revere Stakes last weekend in the hope that the 3-year-old filly would have a better chance to win Saturday when she faces older rivals in the Cardinal Handicap at Churchill Downs.

"There were two Grade 1 winners in the Mrs. Revere, and the turf was soft," said Walden. "I thought this might end up being a little better spot, and we also had the chance to get Pat Day, and he seems to do well with her. The Cardinal is a tough race, though."

MIAMI - Three weeks ago Eddie Castro Jr. was in the thick of a four-way battle among the nation's apprentice riders in both wins and money earned. But after winning a staggering 33 races since the opening of the Tropical at Calder meeting on Breeders' Cup Day, Castro has become the clear-cut favorite to become the 2003 Eclipse Award winner in the apprentice jockey division.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Americas Pride will be an overwhelming favorite in Saturday's six-furlong Lassie Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, and it's easy to see why.

Americas Pride, a daughter of promising young sire Baquero, has won 4 of 9 starts, including two stakes, and none of her rivals on Saturday has yet defeated winners. Americas Pride is coming off an eight-length romp in the six-furlong Janet Wineberg Stakes for Oregon-bred fillies in her Portland Meadows debut, and trainer Linda Northam said that she continues to thrive.

A casino housing 1,627 slot machines at the future site of Evangeline Downs is scheduled to open on Dec. 19, three months earlier than expected. The track's racing operations will move to the site, in Opelousas, La., in 2005, but revenue from slots will benefit purses immediately, beginning with the Thoroughbred meet that opens April 1, 2004.

Foufa's Warrior is 0 for 2 running against Barclay Tagg-trained 3-year-olds on dirt in Maryland.

In mid-May, Foufa's Warrior finished 16 lengths behind Funny Cide in the Preakness. Four months later, Foufa's Warrior was upset by Conservation in the Humphrey S. Finney at Pimlico.

Back on dirt for Saturday's $75,000 Northern Dancer Stakes at Laurel Park, Foufa's Warrior will once again have to deal with a shipper from Tagg's New York-based barn.

Seven of the 14 2-year-old colts and geldings scheduled to run in the $50,000 Pennsylvania Nursery are jumping into the stakes ranks immediately after winning their maiden.

The seven-furlong Nursery, formerly known as the Pennsylvania Futurity, is the last stakes of the season at Philadelphia Park.

The group of recent maiden winners is led by Smarty Jones and Salty Punch, both of whom earned good Beyer Speed Figures.

This week marks a period of transition at Hawthorne Race Course near Chicago. Fans have enjoyed a steady diet of six-figure stakes during six of the first eight weekends of the meet, but the pickings start to get slim as winter approaches. In fact, no stakes, overnight or otherwise, are scheduled this weekend.

Saturday's 6 1/2-furlong feature, a $32,000 three-other-than allowance with a $35,000 claiming option, has attracted a solid field and showcases a rematch between two 4-year-old geldings who were separated by a head in their only other encounter.