VANCOUVER, British Columbia - What a difference a year makes.

At this time last season, Shelby Madison was running for a tag, albeit a pricey one. She won a single race in 2002 and it appeared her future was going to be as a high-priced claimer.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Two days after Funny Cide's connections said they were leaning toward running in the $100,000 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct on Oct. 29, the gelding's trainer, Barclay Tagg, said Funny Cide would run in the $250,0000 Empire Classic Handicap at Belmont Park on Oct. 18.

"The owners have expressed a strong desire to run in the Empire Classic," Tagg said at his Belmont office Wednesday morning. "The horse is doing very well and that's what we'll do."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Arnold Schwarzenegger's win in Tuesday's California gubernatorial recall election could be a boost for the state's racing industry, according to two top racing officials.

Schwarzenegger replaces Gray Davis, who was defeated by a large margin in the recall, and won comfortably over Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who had been criticized in the run-up to the election for accepting millions of dollars in campaign donations from American Indian tribes that operate casinos.

MIAMI - French Village and Sir Oscar will be Mrs. Inside and Mr. Outside when they attempt to sweep their respective divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes on Saturday's $1.5 million Festival of the Sun program at Calder.

French Village was assigned post 1 for the $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes, while Sir Oscar drew the outside, post 9, for the $400,000 In Reality Stakes. Post positions were drawn Wednesday for Calder's cornerstone event, the Festival of the Sun, a 13-race program that includes six other stakes, including the Grade 3, $200,000 Calder Derby.

While the Aqueduct meet will open as scheduled on Oct. 29, patrons will not be able to roam the plant as freely as usual.

Because of incomplete construction of a casino at Aqueduct, several parts of the plant will be off limits. The entire second floor grandstand as well as the backyard area will be closed.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Woodbine is bracing for an expected influx of European runners for the Oct. 19 Canadian International and E.P. Taylor Stakes.

And the first shipper to make the scene is Walzerkoenigin, a 4-year-old who will bring strong credentials into the Grade 1, $750,000 E.P. Taylor, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Bred in Kentucky and purchased for $275,000 at the Keeneland July 2000 yearling sale, Walzerkoenigin has been based in Germany for Gestut Schlenderhan, the farm owned by Baroness Karin Von Ullman.

MIAMI - Sir Bear, who retired earlier this year at 10 with earnings of more than $2.5 million, will return to the track one last time as the feature attraction during the annual Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation ceremony on Saturday's Festival of the Sun program at Calder.

Sir Bear was a three-time Grade 1 winner and one of the most popular horses to race in south Florida over the past decade. He currently resides on a farm in nearby Davie, Fla., located just a few furlongs from the home of his owner-breeders, Barbara and Al Smollin.

Some of the best Louisiana-breds in training will assemble at Louisiana Downs on Saturday to run in 12 stakes worth a cumulative $620,000. The annual Breeders' Festival, which had been run over two days, will be run on just one card this year, making it the second richest program of the meet, behind Super Derby Day.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Quietly, Cactus Ridge, Hawthorne's only Breeders' Cup hopeful, is readying for a final push to the BC Juvenile. Cactus Ridge is scheduled for a workout here Saturday, his first since a convincing win Sept. 27 in the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Futurity.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Few stakes have been as instantly successful as the Raven Run. Designed by the Keeneland racing staff as a means to fill a void for 3-year-old fillies, the Raven Run has been a magnet for top-class runners since its inception in 1999. Runners who have competed in it include such Grade 1 winners as Surfside (2000), Forest Secrets (2001), and Sightseek (2002).