SAN MATEO, Calif. - No one has ever accused trainer Neil Drysdale of pitching a good young colt too high early in his career.

So when Drysdale takes a colt with only two starts and enters him entered in a graded stakes race, it's worth taking note. That's what Drysdale is doing Saturday with Mediator in the Grade 3, $100,000 Bay Meadows Derby.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A pair of Sovereign Awards could be at stake Saturday at Woodbine when One for Rose and Raylene run in the $196,350 Maple Leaf, a 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares.

Saturday's 11-race card also will include the $250,000 Coronation Futurity, a 1 1/8-mile race for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds

One for Rose, a 4-year-old owned by Tucci Stable and trained here by Sid Attard, could nail down older filly or mare or honors in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf, which will offer a purse of $196,350 to 10 entrants.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Payton's Pride does her best running late and should have plenty of speed to chase in the Hastings feature Saturday, a 1 1/16-mile allowance race for 3-year-old fillies that haven't won a stakes worth $20,000 or more in 2003.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Houston Shuffle will be a solid favorite when he faces nine other 2-year-olds in Saturday's $8,000-added OTBA Sales Stakes at six furlongs.

Houston Shuffle is the only winner in the field of lightly raced or unraced runners, and he could scarcely have been more impressive in winning his debut here on opening day. Houston Shuffle, an Oregon-bred son of Houston and Dundoon Shuffle, dueled for the lead before drawing off to defeat maiden special weight foes by seven lengths, covering five furlongs in 1:00.56.

MIAMI - Trainers Christophe Clement and Bill Mott, both staunch supporters of the Tropical at Calder meeting the past several years, make their presence felt here for the first time this season in sending in Born Something and Young Star, respectively, from Payson Park to run in the second and tougher division of Saturday's Good Intentions Stakes.

Both divisions of the Good Intentions are for fillies and mares at one mile on the turf and offer a purse of $35,000.

Leslie's Love, who will shoot for her fourth straight win Saturday night in the $40,000 Zydeco at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., is no longer strictly a turf horse.

Leslie's Love began her career on dirt, but last year at 5 began racing on turf on a regular basis and picked up the first two stakes victories of her career. She threw a wrench into the turf-only theory in her last start, however, when she won her first dirt stakes, the $50,000 Victoria, at Louisiana Downs on Oct. 11.

After hosting stakes for Texas and Alabama-breds earlier this meet, Louisiana Downs on Saturday will run the annual Razorback series, which is restricted to 2-year-olds bred in Arkansas. There are two divisions of the Razorback, and each will be held at six furlongs for a purse of $35,000.

Codes Miss Texas appears to be the one to beat in the fillies division. She won a maiden race by more than eight lengths two starts ago, and in her last start finished third against a tough field in a conditioned allowance. Luis Quinonez has the mount for trainer Kari Craddock.

PHOENIX - Saturday's Walter Cluer Handicap at Turf Paradise is so contentious that the 10 entrants are weighted within four pounds of each other. The 7 1/2-furlong turf event has lured the likes of 2001 winner Bristolville, 2002 runner-up Milk Wood, the razor-sharp Playing It Cool, and Komax, who was highweighted at 120 pounds for his dirt exploits but hasn't run since January.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It isn't often that fresh blood turns up this late in the season for a race such as the Jammed Lovely, a seven-furlong stakes for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies here Sunday.

But Sharp Miss will make her local debut in the Jammed Lovely, which has attracted a field of 12 and is worth $171,300.

Bred in British Columbia, Sharp Miss began her career with a victory for $35,000 at Hastings and later moved on to Golden Gate, where she won for $25,000 in February before being claimed for that price in her next start.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Unbeaten A Bit O' Gold, a full brother to the 2002 Coronation Futurity winner, Arco's Gold, will try to win his stakes debut Saturday in this year's running of the $250,000 Coronation, a nine-furlong race for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds.

The Grade 3 Maple Leaf Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile for fillies and mares, is the co-feature on the 11-race card at Woodbine.