Saturday is Maryland Million Day at Laurel Park, a showcase for the best in the state. But that can't stop a classy Pennsylvania-bred from being favored in the richest race on the card, the $200,000 Maryland Million Classic.

Docent, a 5-year-old son of the Maryland stallion Waquoit, is 3-5 on the morning line against eight other horses. He brings a record of 14 wins in 26 starts into the Classic, which he won last year by two lengths, and his off-the-pace style gives him a great chance in the 1 3/16-mile Classic.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Roberto's Mango went from a nondescript claimer to a stakes winner when she was switched from dirt to turf last winter.

The remarkable turnaround of a filly who could have been claimed for $32,000 a year ago this week can continue Saturday, when she starts as the 118-pound highweight in the $100,000 Sen. Ken Maddy Handicap at Santa Anita.

"She's surprised me the way she's turned out," trainer Julio Canani said.

The switch to turf has made most of the difference.

CHICAGO - Last winter, San Dare was one of the best turf mares at Gulfstream Park. Now it is autumn, and San Dare is coming to Hawthorne, where trainer Rick Hiles will find out if a break from racing has breathed life back into her career.

But even if she returns sharp, San Dare is no lock to win the $150,000 Indian Maid Handicap here Saturday. Standing squarely in her path is the now horse, Janeian.

San Dare and Janeian join five others, most notably Delmonico Cat, in the Indian Maid, a 1 1/16-mile race over Hawthorne's grass course.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - No owner has dominated the Cup and Saucer Stakes like Sam-Son Farm, which has won the 1 1/16-mile turf race for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds an astounding 13 times.

Mark Frostad trained three of those winners, including first-time starter Atlantic Fury in 2001. Shoal Water made his debut in last year's running and finished a close second for Frostad, who entered a trio of Sam-Son runners in this year's edition Saturday at Woodbine: Silver Ticket, Rainbows for Luck, and Moonlight Duel.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The best field of the year at Hastings has been assembled for Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Ballerina Breeders' Cup.

Nine of the 10 horses entered in the 1 1/8-mile Ballerina are stakes winners, including the 2002 horse of the year in British Columbia, Elana d'Amour, and this year's B.C. Breeders' Cup Oaks winner, Raylene. Also entered are Shelby Madison, who has finished first in the last four middle-distance stakes for fillies and mares at Hastings, and Dancewithavixen, the Oaks runner-up and a six-time stakes winner in 2003.

EDMONTON, Alberta - The region's top 2-year-old filly will be decided when Bears Little Angel and Classa Red Wine head a field of nine in Saturday's $40,000 Freedom of the City at one mile.

Bears Little Angel appears to have an edge on Classa Red Wine after beating him by 4 1/2 lengths in the restricted Sturgeon River three weeks ago.

Saturday's distance, the farthest the juvenile fillies have gone this year, should be another advantage for Bears Little Angel. In earlier stakes, Bears Little Angel had a second in the Bird of Pay and a third in the Sales.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Summer Colony, the Grade 1-winning mare who handed Azeri her only loss in 2002, has been retired. She was shipped to owner Edward Evans's Spring Hill Farm in Casanova, Va., on Thursday and will be bred to Gone West next year.

Summer Colony, a 5-year-old daughter of Summer Squall, retires with a record of 10 wins, 5 seconds, and 1 third from 24 career starts. She earned $1,448,930.

MIAMI - French Village is undefeated and will be seeking to become only the second filly in 22 years to sweep all three legs of the female division of the Florida Stallion Stakes. Yet despite all she has accomplished, French Village may not even be favored when she goes postward against eight other juvenile fillies in Saturday's $400,000 My Dear Girl Stakes at Calder.

Track linemaker Chuck Streva, after much thought, established Chatter Chatter as the slight morning-line favorite for the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl.

MIAMI - Saturday's Festival of the Sun program at Calder was highly attractive to jockey Jerry Bailey, who is seeking to eclipse the single-season record for stakes victories held by Mike Smith.

Bailey is named to ride in seven of the eight stakes on the card and is in position to have a banner day, as he is listed on the likely first or second choices with all seven of those mounts. None of them should have an easier time getting Bailey closer to Smith's mark than Stroll, who looks unbeatable in the $200,000 Calder Derby.

MIAMI - Eddie Plesa Jr. has trained a laundry list of stakes winners throughout his career. But none has given him more pleasure or satisfaction than Best of the Rest, the fragile but extremely talented veteran who will make his long-awaited return to action as the starting highweight and favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Spend a Buck Handicap.

The Spend a Buck is one of four stakes that make up the undercard on the $1.5 million Festival of the Sun program at Calder.