HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The $1 million Florida Derby and the second annual Sunshine Millions will highlight the 2004 Gulfstream Park stakes schedule, which has more than $8.5 million in purses and 41 stakes, 32 of which are graded. The Gulfstream meeting opens on Jan. 3.

Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., averted a possible suspension of its racing license on Thursday when it presented the Oklahoma Racing Commission with proof of workers' compensation. Instead, the track was given preliminary approval for 45 dates of racing in 2004.

Remington Park in Oklahoma City and Fair Meadows in Tulsa also had their dates requests on the agenda, and both received final approval for their 2004 schedules.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Congaree may only have finished second in the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park earlier this month, but trainer Bob Baffert is certain that his star older horse will be ready for a top effort in the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

Thursday, Congaree, 5, had his first workout since his one-length loss to Perfect Drift in the Kentucky Cup Classic, breezing a half-mile in 45.80 seconds. The time was the fastest of 29 recorded workouts at the distance.

"He's ready," Baffert said. "He was pretty fresh. He went pretty strong."

POMONA, Calif. - The last Saturday of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet will be a day of firsts for trainer Mel Stute, jockey Julie Krone, and 3-year-old gelding Excess Summer.

Stute will be the first inductee into the Fairplex Park Hall of Fame in a ceremony preceding the $100,000 Pomona Derby, a race that represents a first for Krone. She will be riding at Fairplex Park for the first time, and has the luxury of being aboard a standout.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Everyday Angel, one of the more impressive 2-year-old filly winners at the Saratoga meet, moves from maiden to stakes racing Saturday on closing day at Arlington. And she will be favored to do so successfully.

Ten others were entered in the Grade 3, $100,000 Arlington-Washington Lassie, a dirt race at one mile around one turn. But in terms of pure ability, none is likely to match up with Everyday Angel, who dueled on the lead and missed by a nose in her career debut at Churchill, then came back with a 12 1/2-length win Aug. 11 at Saratoga.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Thoroughbred racing is in thrall to raw speed. Breeders create it. Owners crave it. Handicappers quantify it. And during the summer, a good 2-year-old is supposed to show it.

But for the best 2-year-olds of the crop, those that hope to dent the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, this is the time of year raw speed ceases to suffice, when a young horse must learn racing is a profession, not just a mad dash. And this is the time of year when horses with quality and stamina outdistance summer's precocious speedballs.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The two-length margin that Roscoe Pito held over Steady Smiler at the end of the Grade 2, $326,750 British Columbia Derby is a bit misleading. Yes, he was being asked by rider Pedro Alvarado, and "driving" is the correct term to describe his win. However, it appeared that he was running quite easily at the finish and would likely have repelled any challenge, had there been one. Alvarado, who was aboard the British Columbia-bred Roscoe Pito for the first time, concurred.

The $40,000 Minstrel Stakes for 2-year-olds at Louisiana Downs has been a launching pad for some quality colts through the years, including Risen Star, Bet Me Best, and Crowned King. Saturday, two fast debut winners, South Africa and Joe Six Pack, will try to win the six-furlong race, but to do so they both must beat Next Bandit.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The message on the side of the Red Cross van hit home for Debbie Sones.

"I was sitting in traffic the other day and I spotted the truck with 'Disaster Relief' written on it," the trainer said. "That's what I need."

It has been a tough meet for Sones. She has won only one race from 12 starters at Monmouth Park as the barn has suffered a run of leg injuries.

PHOENIX - So far Unyielding has been true to his name - especially when racing on the Turf Paradise dirt.

Unyielding has been a dynamo here, winning all four of his local main-track starts, and he is the horse to beat in Saturday's $35,000 Saguaro Stakes. The one-mile race for 3-year-olds lured a field of eight, but no matter how you look at it, this race seems to go through Unyielding.