ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Questions abound regarding Sunday's seventh running of the $1 million Atto Mile, a one-turn turf race that has never been won by the favorite or a front-runner.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Soaring Free will be looking to become the second Atto Mile winner for Mark Frostad and Sam-Son Farm on Sunday.

On form there is little resemblance between Soaring Free and his successful predecessor, Quiet Resolve, besides the fact they both will have contested the Atto Mile as 4-year-old geldings. Quiet Resolve actually finished second in the 1999 Atto Mile, beaten a head, but was declared the winner when Hawksley Hill was disqualified.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Mike Iammarino continued his stakes-winning ways in the $35,000 R.J. Speers last Saturday on a pick-up mount that could end up as Manitoba's horse of the year.

Iammarino, a former three-time leading rider in Alberta, guided Northern Affair to a two-length victory over Deputy Country in the 1 1/16-mile Speers. The race was Northern Affair's first try against older horses

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - An average live handle of $21,169 for the recently concluded 30-day Marquis Downs meeting represented a solid 9.1 percent increase compared to 2002.

The handle of $43,156 on last Saturday's closing-day program was the largest here in many years. The highlight of the card was the $15,000 Saskatchewan Derby, won by the locally owned Alberta ship-in Beauzak.

Attendance figures are not kept.

Both the trainer and jockey titles went to first-time winners.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Bob Baffert tends to shake his head in wonder at Congaree. While Baffert has trained a litany of sensational racehorses in recent years, not many have caught his fancy the way Congaree has.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wando already has overcome two major obstacles this year en route to his sweep of the Canadian Triple Crown.

Now, Wando will face his highest hurdle to date, as he'll be cutting back from 1 1/2 miles to a mile on the turf course and facing some talented open-company older runners in Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile.

"He's done everything he's been asked to do," said Mike Keogh, who trains Wando for owner-breeder Gustav Schickedanz. "I don't think I'd want to swap [chances] with anyone."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The field for Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Atto Mile grew Tuesday with the news that Freefourinternet would be shipping in from Kentucky for the turf race.

Freefourinternet, a 5-year-old horse trained by Joan Scott, is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Firecracker Breeders' Cup Handicap, a one-mile turf race at Churchill Downs on July 5.

Robby Albarado has the mount on Freefourinternet, who will carry 117 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Atto Mile. As of Tuesday, a field of 11 or 12 was expected.

Cole Norman might have a third horse for the Breeders' Cup next month after Mass Media, a 2-year-old colt he trains for Gary and Mary West, won an entry-level allowance by 22 lengths Sunday at Louisiana Downs.

Mass Media earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100, which is tied for the second highest Beyer among 2-year-olds in 2003. The highest is a 103 earned by Cuvee.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Scott Lake wasn't looking for the hardest race he could find to get Shake You Down back on track for next month's Breeders' Cup Sprint. He wasn't looking for a walkover, either.

It would appear Lake found exactly what he was looking for Thursday at Belmont Park as Shake You Down was entered against several stakes-caliber animals in a $56,000 classified allowance race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Reade Baker and Scott Fairlie, two of Woodbine's hottest trainers, are well represented in Thursday's Woodbine feature, a $61,600 preliminary allowance race for 3-year-olds and up.

Baker will send out Alpha King in the six-furlong race. Owned by Stronach Stable, Alpha King ran sixth in his debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight race July 26, running greenly while wide over an inside biased track. He displayed a remarkable form reversal with the addition of blinkers Aug. 24, when he graduated on the front end by seven lengths.