ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A field of promising 2-year-olds, including the nicely bred Free Thinking, run in Friday's sixth race at Woodbine, a 1 1/16-mile allowance on the main track worth $67,800.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Six months ago, False Promises was starting to live up to his name. A $37,000 2-year-old purchase in the spring of 2002, and a winner last December in his second start ever, False Promises began 2003 by losing four races by a combined 92 lengths.

The promise he had shown was vanishing, but trainer Tony Granitz had one more hope. "I told the owner [David Maracich] all along that this horse would be better going long on grass," Granitz said. "He had a sister that liked the grass, and he trained like he would be better on it, too."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It's not unusual for the name Collet to be associated with a winner of the E.P. Taylor Stakes.

Trainer Robert Collet, based in France, sent out Truly a Dream to win the 1994 Taylor at 7-2 and Choc Ice to capture the 2001 running at 31-1.

This year, Rodolphe Collet will be looking to follow his father's example when he saddles Tigertail, who should be among the favorites in Sunday's Grade 1, $750,000 turf race for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Another Friday night at Bay Meadows unfolds with the possibility of more action at the bandstand than on the racetrack.

The cards for the long-running Friday's Alive promotion are usually hard to fill, but this Friday took a particularly hard hit.

Only 46 horses were entered in the eight races on a program that begins at 7 p.m. No superfectas, which require eight entrants, will be offered, and only five races will have trifectas, which require fields of six.

Owner Jim Helzer, with three dangerous qualifiers, could sweep the two Grade 1 stakes at Lone Star Park this weekend - the $393,120 Dash for Cash Futurity and the $191,300 Dash for Cash Derby.

In Friday's talent-laden Dash for Cash Derby, Helzer has the second- and third-fastest qualifiers, Sno Me and Dazzling Reflection, who is owned in partnership with his wife, Marilyn. They will race as an entry. In Saturday's Dash for Cash Futurity, the Helzers are represented by the fastest qualifier, Hadtobenuts.

With divisional leader Hawkish in the barn awaiting the Los Alamitos Million trials on Nov. 18, some West Coast 2-year-olds have an enhanced opportunity for a rich futurity win when they start in the eight trials to the Grade 1, $875,000 Golden State Futurity on Friday night at Los Alamitos.

Heading the trials are Grade 1 Governor's Cup Futurity winner Metallic Lion and Grade 1 Ed Burke Memorial Futurity runner-up Summertime Fly.

Metallic Lion also has a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Kindergarten behind Hawkish.

Vals Fortune, trained by Heath Taylor, will be a strong favorite earn a $500,000 bonus by winning the Grade 1, $232,242 LQHBA Futurity on Sunday at Louisiana Downs.

Vals Fortune has taken the first two races needed to earn the bonus, the Grade 2, $103,771 Mardi Gras Futurity and the Grade 1, $226,101 LQHBA Sale Futurity. He also has wins in the $214,700 Lee Berwick Memorial Futurity and the $91,550 Laddie Futurity.

The Woodlands meet offers the perfect melting pot of stables for five-time defending jockey Ken Shino, who through the years has built relationships with many of the stables based in Iowa and Nebraska that frequent the Kansas City, Kan., track.

Shino, originally from Colorado, has been dominant at the Woodlands. Last season, he won an incredible 61 races during the 26-day meet, and this year he leads the standings with 22 wins. He is also the meet's leading jockey by earnings, with mount winnings of $159,401.

Owner Tom Durant has three talented 3-year-olds based at Retama Park, and the least-known of the three, Book Note, will make his first start at the San Antonio-area track on Friday night in the seventh race.

Book Note looks like the one to beat in the conditioned allowance based on his second-place finish to Watchem Smokey two races ago in the $50,000 Airline Stakes at Louisiana Downs.

ANDERSON, Ind. - More than a few tall tales have been hitting the sports-shorts items in the nation's newspapers this week.

For the record, 7-foot-7 former NBA center Manute Bol will not be risking his limbs in breaking a Thoroughbred from the starting gate on Saturday. Bol will go through the licensing process with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission and be issued an identification card, not a jockey's license.