The $1 million Delta Jackpot for 2-year-olds at Delta Downs on Dec. 5, which has been doubled in value for the upcoming meet, speaks to the riches that slot machines have produced for the Vinton, La., track since its casino opened in February 2001.

Before then, stakes for Thoroughbreds were almost nonexistent at Delta. But fast-forward to the 2003-04 season, which will run 86 nights from Oct. 31 to March 27, and the riches are almost embarrassing. Delta has scheduled 45 stakes worth about $4 million. Last year, the track had 36 stakes worth $2.5 million.

MIAMI, Fla. - Six months ago Eddie Castro was riding in his native Panama. Today the 18-year-old is among the winningest apprentice riders in the country, in the thick of a battle with veteran Manoel Cruz for the spring-summer riding title at Calder and a legitimate contender for an Eclipse Award as the nation's top apprentice.

CHICAGO - Run Hawthorne's Sunday feature on paper, and Victory at Sea is the winner. But the Hawthorne racing surface occupies a place far removed from the static world of past performances. The track here is quirky, sometimes deep and difficult to handle, and a horse's affinity for it often means as much as established form.

So think twice about accepting Victory at Sea's short price in Sunday's eighth race, a high-end, six-furlong allowance with a $100,000 claiming option that only Victory at Sea's connections exercise.

After winning last year's Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap, Pleasantly Perfect appeared to be one of the rising stars in the game, and a significant contender for the Breeders' Cup Classic three weeks later. But little has gone right since he crossed the wire.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The prospects for Sweet Return's career changed after the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6.

A colt once thought of as a miler, Sweet Return made an impressive rally to finish a game third over 1 1/8 miles.

The showing has given owner John Brunetti and trainer Ron McAnally high expectations for Sweet Return's reappearance in the $150,000 Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita.

"The way he ran in the Del Mar Derby, I think he'll be very good," McAnally said. "It gave me a lot of confidence."

ARCADIA, Calif. - This has not been a typical fall for trainer Bob Baffert's 2-year-old male division. Typically by early October, the stable has a stakes winner that has developed into a widely respected candidate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

This year, Baffert has a stable of maiden winners.

Sunday at Santa Anita, Baffert starts three well-bred colts in the $250,000 Norfolk Stakes, all of whom won maiden races at Del Mar - Coldntight, Consecrate, and Odds On.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Sightseek has been unbeatable since coming to the East in the spring, and there is no reason to believe she won't continue her winning ways in Saturday's $750,000 Beldame at Belmont Park.

The Grade 1 Beldame, New York's final prep for the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff, shares the card with three other Breeders' Cup preps: the Grade 1 Champagne, Grade 1 Frizette, and Grade 2 Kelso Breeders' Cup.

Three Beldame winners - Lady's Secret (1986), Personal Ensign (1988), and Beautiful Pleasure (1999) - have gone on to win the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Decarchy, an older half-brother to the recently retired Empire Maker, will try to snap his losing streak in Saturday's $350,000 Kelso Breeders' Cup Handicap at Belmont Park.

Despite his string of eight losses, Decarchy is the 118-pound highweight of the Kelso Breeders' Cup, a prep for the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 25. Eleven older males were entered in the Grade 2 Kelso, which will be run at a mile on the Widener turf.

ELMONT, N.Y. - It isn't often that an apprentice rider gets a chance to ride in a Grade 1 race, but Pablo Fragoso will have that opportunity Saturday when he rides Summer Colony in the $750,000 Beldame Stakes at Belmont Park.

Fragoso is no stranger to Summer Colony, as he got on her many mornings when he worked as an exercise rider for trainer Mark Hennig. Fragoso, who began riding races this spring, is still the regular work rider for Summer Colony.

Sharp recent form seems to be the common trait for nearly the entire field in Saturday's $150,000 Safely Kept Breeders' Cup Stakes at Pimlico. Of the eight 3-year-old fillies entered in the Grade 3, six-furlong sprint, four are coming off victories and two others most recently ran second.

The one filly whose credentials stand out, however, is a stranger to the East Coast who spent the summer shuttling from Kentucky to Chicago to Louisiana.