LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Offlee Wild, the Holy Bull Stakes winner who finished 12th in the Kentucky Derby in his last start, will run Saturday, Sept. 13, in the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Sprint, one of five races in the 10th annual Kentucky Cup series at Turfway.

Trainer T.V. Smith said he doesn't expect the six-furlong distance of the Sprint to be a major problem for Offlee Wild following the layoff of more than four months. Offlee Wild has plenty of natural speed but spent the winter and spring progressively stretching out in distance.

Juan Crawford will be back in the saddle at Assiniboia Downs on Sunday after serving a suspension of 12 racing days that resulted from an incident with fellow rider Ken Hendricks at the track on Aug. 15.

Crawford, a 24-year-old native of Barbados who is in his second season at Assiniboia Downs, originally had been suspended for the balance of the meeting, which concludes Sept. 28, after the stewards ruled he had injured Hendricks during "an unprovoked altercation" in the jockeys' room.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Does the decision to run Saturday's $60,000-added Big Jag Handicap at Bay Meadows with only five entrants signal a new era for racing at northern California tracks?

Most stakes races are written as overnight handicaps so management has the option of canceling them if the field is not large enough.

New racing secretary Tom Doutrich said he never considered postponing the Big Jag.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nearly a week after Ellis Park recognized her as their leading trainer with a trophy and a simple presentation in the winner's circle, Kim Hammond is still being congratulated by dozens of friends and colleagues throughout the racing industry.

"It's been wonderful, it really has," Hammond said earlier this week from Hoosier Park. "Trainers I do business with in Chicago and southern Illinois, and the folks here, they've all been great."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When trainer Brian Morgan gave rider Chad Beckon a leg up on Desert Wise, the No. 1 horse in Friday's first race at Woodbine, it was more than just a case of another "bug boy" setting out on his first career adventure.

Chad Beckon, 23, is the son of the late Dan Beckon, a prominent jockey on the Ontario circuit whose shocking death at age 35 on July 2, 1987, is still viewed in some quarters as the darkest unsolved mystery in the history of local horse racing.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Tangier Sound and Melody of Colors resume their lively rivalry Sunday afternoon at Monmouth Park in the $50,000 Incredible Revenge Stakes.

The two fillies have emerged as the local queens of the five-furlong turf sprints.

"The last two years, we've wound up in many of the same races," said Jim Ryerson who trains Tangier Sound. "Melody of Colors is a nice filly and there aren't a lot of these spots. It's hard to not end up together."

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Floater, undefeated in two career starts, will attempt to stretch his speed around two turns while dropping into Ohio-bred company for the first time in Sunday's $75,000 Juvenile Stakes at Thistledown at 1 1/16 miles.

Floater won at first asking going 4 1/2 furlongs at Mountaineer on Aug. 10, then two weeks later shipped to River Downs and romped to a 4 3/4-length win going six furlongs.

MIAMI - Trainer Marty Wolfson will go shopping around for Aeneas's next start, and he plans to let the market dictate what direction the multiple graded stakes-placed Aeneas will head later this month.

Wolfson will limit his choices for Aeneas to three: The Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont on Sept. 27; the Grade 2, $750,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup on Sept. 28; and the Grade 3, $400,000 Meadowlands Cup on Oct. 3.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The kitchen utensil salesmen are gone, the cotton candy has been eaten, and it should be a lot easier to get into Hastings with the Pacific National Exhibition finally over. The good news is that the best part of the meet is about to begin. Beginning next Sunday with the Jack and Sadie Diamond futurities, more than $900,000 worth of stakes money will be up for grabs in the next month and a half.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Owner-trainer Gina Powell was surprised last Monday when her Get Down Wolfie, dueling for the lead, fell out of contention in the Puss N Boots Stakes entering the stretch. At the end, he finished in front of only two runners, 11 lengths behind the winner, Le Cinquieme Essai.

Powell's first inclination was that her horse might have suffered an injury. But that wasn't so, she found out back at the barn later.

"Wolfie is as sound as any horse in America," Powell said. "And he's so good, right now I felt he couldn't lose."