MIAMI - Sir Oscar and French Village left little doubt regarding leadership in the local 2-year-old divisions after posting popular, one-sided victories in the $75,000 Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen stakes. The Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen are the opening legs in Calder's rich Florida Stallion Stakes series.

Ben's Reflection made the lead soon after the start and widened to a 5 1/2-length win over five Ohio-bred rivals in the $40,000 North Randall Stakes, which is restricted to 3-year-olds. Only One King rallied up the rail to outfinish Woodburner for second.

Ben's Reflection, owned by the M. Y. Stables, controlled all the pace under rider Danny Cox, and completed six furlongs in 1:10.54 over the fast racing surface. He returned a $3.40 as the odds-on choice.

Only One King was forwardly placed all the way and outgamed Woodburner under strong handling.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Through the first three days of the Bay Meadows Fair meeting, quite a jockeys' race has developed.

Russell Baze, Joe Castro, Francisco Duran, and David Lopez all had three winners, with Duran getting all of his victories on Friday's card.

Duran won the Bay Meadows Fair riding title last year, edging Baze and Jason Lumpkins. After a slow start early on the fair circuit, he has been picking up steam.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The photograph of a horse's rear end hangs on the wall of trainer Laura de Seroux's office. Not just any horse's rear, mind you. It is the rump of reigning Horse of the Year Azeri, accompanied by a fitting caption:

"All you're gonna see in 2003."

DEL MAR, Calif. - After Miss Houdini won last year's Del Mar Debutante on Aug. 31, she was undefeated and one of the leading contenders for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. But she has not raced since. That lengthy layoff, necessitated by a tendon injury, is scheduled to end on Sunday. Miss Houdini is entered in the third race, a six-furlong allowance, and her trainer, Warren Stute, is eager to see how she will perform.

"She's doing fine. She's worked well, and worked fast," Stute said at his Del Mar barn on Friday morning. "She should be ready, hopefully."

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Mike Luzzi had just one concern on Friday morning when he looked ahead to Sunday's $200,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, a six-furlong race in which he will ride heavy favorite Shake You Down.

"Does [Todd] Pletcher have anything in that race?" Luzzi asked.

Actually, Pletcher - who recorded his meet-leading 21st and 22nd victories on Friday - is sitting this one out.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Funny Cide, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, returned to the track Friday morning for the first time since finishing third in last Sunday's Grade 1 Haskell Invitational. Funny Cide jogged once around Saratoga's fast main track as his connections try to get him healthy enough for a possible showdown with Empire Maker in the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 23.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With Anticipation, a five-time Grade 1 winner who was aiming for a three-peat in Saturday's Grade 1 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga, suffered an injury to his left foreleg, and was to be scratched from the race, trainer Jonathan Sheppard said.

"He does have sensitivity in a spot on the back of the pastern on the left front,'' Sheppard confirmed Friday afternoon. "We had it scanned and it did show a small tear. If you were a risk taker at a smaller racetrack you might stand him in ice and give him a shot of Bute, but we're not going to do that.''

HENDERSON, Ky. - By winning two races in sensational fashion this spring, For Rubies clearly came to a career peak. But when the filly runs Sunday as the likely favorite in the $100,000 Ellis Park Breeders' Cup, she will be trying to rebound off one of the most disappointing efforts of her career.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Seldom Free, who has won his last two sprints and finished fourth when he tried to stretch out for the first time Aug. 3, should get a nice trip behind what figures to be a hotly contested battle for the lead in the feature race at Hastings Sunday. The $25,000 sprint for 3-year-olds drew seven horses.