This is Thomas Clifton's golden opportunity to take over as leading rider at Penn National Race Course.

Clifton came into Wednesday night's program just one win behind David Cora in the jockey standings for the spring-summer meet, which began on April 30. But with Cora serving a suspension this week, Clifton can move past him.

Cora has 63 wins in 364 mounts at the meet and is the track's overall leader for the year with 151 victories. Clifton ranks second at the meet with 62 wins and overall with 121 first-place finishes.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - The trainer and jockey standings for the Randall meet, which ends Sept. 19, are beginning to look like one-horse races.

Through Sunday evening trainer Rodney Faulkner had doubled his nearest rivals, Martin D. Owens and Joseph Martin. Three wins this past weekend put the Faulkner stable at 18 while Owens has nine. Martin saddled four winners over the weekend and also has nine victories.

It's tough to get past Lac Laronge in the $60,000 A.L. "Red" Erwin Stakes at Louisiana Downs on Friday. Lac Laronge has taken his game to another level in recent months, and should be a solid favorite in the seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds bred in Louisiana.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - The show payoff for Cal Flaming Gala didn't appear on the tote board Monday at the Bay Meadows Fair.

Five numeral payoffs don't fit.

But while fans were buzzing about the $146.60 return, trainer Terri Eaton had to be shaking her head in frustration once again. Her DWA Croix Blanche, the 3-5 favorite, had finished sixth to create the bonanza show payoff. Of the $12,094 wagered to show on the Arabian race, $10,809 was bet on DWA Croix Blanche.

MIAMI - French Village and Sir Oscar kept their records unblemished with surprisingly easy victories in Saturday's $75,000 Desert Vixen and Dr. Fager divisions of the Florida Stallion Stakes. But it was another 2-year-old, Second of June, who may have made the most lasting impression of the day when he overcame an eventful trip to capture his career debut for trainer Bill Cesare.

2-year-old winners. The following is a guide to how the leading Ontario sires fare with their juveniles.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Tim Hills isn't likely to soon forget his first visit to Woodbine, when he sent out Joe's Son Joey in the 2002 Nearctic.

Joe's Son Joey was running the race of his life in the Nearctic and had assumed a clear lead with a furlong to run when disaster nearly struck.

Joe's Son Joey caught sight of a bare patch on the turf course, which he attempted to hurdle while his jockey, Nick Santagata, did his best impression of a stunt rider and desperately hung on.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Telephone calls comprise the very fabric of a horse trainer's existence. Most are routine, but last fall Neil Drysdale got a fairly interesting one from England. Storming Home, a fine English-based stakes horse, was being considered for a switch to North American racing.

"I was contacted prior to the Champion Stakes, and it was mentioned there was talk about sending him over here," Drysdale said.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Rain in Toronto, and the prospect of more on the way, forced trainer Roger Attfield to change Perfect Soul's training schedule, just days before he runs Saturday in the Arlington Million. Scheduled for a Wednesday breeze, Perfect Soul had what Attfield termed "a little dirt work" on Tuesday morning.

Set in the context of months of preparation, the change is trifling. All season, Perfect Soul has stayed the course Attfield charted months ago.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has to skip Saturday's $300,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup with Abreeze, but he hopes he has a capable substitute in State Shinto for the Grade 2 race.

Abreeze, who finished second behind Evening Attire in last year's Saratoga BC, missed some training time during the summer because of a fever. McLaughlin said Abreeze is breezing well, but he wants to find an easier spot for the 8-year-old's first start since June 1, when he won an allowance race at Belmont Park.