SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Bobby Frankel has already won 18 Grade 1 stakes races this year, four shy of trainer D. Wayne Lukas's record 22 set in 1987. Frankel has a chance to equal or surpass that mark this weekend when he will have runners in five Grade 1 races from Saratoga to Del Mar.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The Grade 1 King's Bishop and Grade 2 Fourstardave, two of the three supporting stakes on Saturday's Travers card, drew large and competitive fields when entries were taken Wednesday.

Remington Park management is attempting to regroup this year.

The Oklahoma City track is owned by Magna Entertainment, which last year considered closing the facility because of declining business. Instead it has made a number of operational changes, which include shortening its Thoroughbred meet, which opens Friday night. The 57-day season will run through Nov. 30.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Saarland, a consistent contender in Grade 1 races this year, heads the eight runners who are likely for the Grade 3, $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Handicap Saturday afternoon at Monmouth Park.

Saarland, a 4-year-old son of Unbridled, most recently finished sixth in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga. He was beaten less than four lengths in a race where he wound up trapped on the inside.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Johar was in the best form of his career in February when a shoulder injury put him out of training.

Victories in the Oak Tree and Hollywood derbies last fall and the San Marcos Stakes against older horses in January had made Johar a top contender for the major turf stakes of 2003.

He still has a chance to achieve that goal.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Part of the intrigue surrounding the Canadian Derby each year is the matchup between horses who have been running in Alberta all year and invaders from the east, the west, and south of the border.

That will be the case again this year, with a number of local horses - including Taiaslew, Beau Brass, Raylene, and Rindanica - among the field of eight for Saturday's 74th edition of the Canadian Derby.

AUBURN, Wash. - Two-year-olds take center stage on Friday, when they compete in five of the nine races, including the featured eighth race.

The feature matches six fillies, each eligible to be claimed for $25,000, at six furlongs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Pants N Kisses, a dull third last time out in the Grade 3 Manitoba Derby, will meet older opponents in Friday's Woodbine feature, a second-level allowance at 1 1/16 miles.

Pants N Kisses closed strongly from just off the pace to take the nine-furlong Victoria Park Stakes three starts ago, and he subsequently finished fifth of six in the Grade 3 Toronto Cup Handicap on turf.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Azeri is not the only mare based in Southern California on a multi-stakes winning streak.

In Saturday's $150,000 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar, Madame Pietra will attempt to win her fifth consecutive stakes race, a streak that began last fall at Santa Anita.

Raced sparingly in the last year, Madame Pietra has improved in recent starts, scoring wins this year in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint at Gulfstream Park in January and the Grade 3 Desert Stormer Handicap at Hollywood Park in June.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Somewhat lost amidst the furor following the finish of last Saturday's Arlington Million was the excellent performance of the Canadian invader, Perfect Soul.

Although he finished fifth, Perfect Soul was beaten just three-quarters of a length in the Grade 1, 1 1/4-mile turf race.

The effort was encouraging enough for Roger Attfield, who trains Perfect Soul here for owner-breeder Charles Fipke, to declare the horse a candidate for the Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile on Sept. 14.