DEL MAR, Calif. - Two months to the Breeders' Cup, and the West Coast is looking stronger every day. California-based Candy Ride (BC Classic), Storming Home (Turf), and Special Ring (Mile) have emerged as division leaders, casting shadows even as they skip races such as Sunday's Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap.

DEL MAR, Calif. - In June, Primerica finished second to Candy Ride in an allowance race at Hollywood Park. The loss came after back-to-back wins for Primerica, but was the first American start for the undefeated Candy Ride, who won the Pacific Classic last Sunday.

"That's his claim to fame so far," trainer Wally Dollase said of Primerica.

Monday, Primerica starts in the $250,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap at one mile, trying to win his first stakes race.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - At the eighth pole of Friday's $200,000 Spinaway Stakes, with Ashado holding a tenuous lead over the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Be Gentle, trainer Todd Pletcher started to wonder if his filly would be fit enough to fight.

"She's so idle in the morning it makes you a little concerned in the afternoon, especially at the eighth pole when it looked like she had to dig down a little," Pletcher said. "Fortunately, she's one of those horses who knows the difference in the morning and the afternoon."

Philadelphia Park had hoped to attract at least one or two of the season's premier 3-year-olds by boosting the purse of the Pennsylvania Derby to $750,000, a healthy $250,000 raise.

But that wish basically evaporated when Peace Rules, a horse who trainer Bobby Frankel had said might run in the Pennsylvania Derby, had to pinch-hit for ailing stablemate Empire Maker in last weekend's Travers at Saratoga.

So the biggest names among the 10 entered Friday for Monday's Grade 3 Pennsylvania Derby were Dynever and Toccet.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Monmouth Park racing office sometimes struggles to fill stakes races. Then there are days like Friday, when entries come pouring in to a point of overflow.

Monmouth offered a pair of $50,000 one-mile turf stakes for Sunday, and both lured an excess of entrants. The Bob Harding attracted 17; the Continental Mile for 2-year-olds pulled 21.

Even with the temporary turf fence down - it had been set at 30 feet - the maximum number of starters for each race is 14.

MIAMI - Band Is Passing, a two-time winner and the reigning champion of the Grade 3 Miami Mile Breeders' Cup Handicap, will not be back to defend that title on Monday. In fact, Band Is Passing's owner-breeder-trainer Stanley Ersoff has decided to retire Band Is Passing at the age of 7.

"I think that's going to be it for his racing career," Ersoff said. "Basically, it's the wear and tear of old age. He's been much too good to me to risk getting him injured at this point in his life."

It was difficult to separate Doctor Mike, Front Nine, and That Tat, the top three contenders for Sunday's $50,000 Folklore Handicap at Louisiana Downs, the last time they met.

The occasion was the $50,000 Kings Court on June 27, and Doctor Mike was up for a nose win over Front Nine in three-way photo. It was another neck back in third to a late-charging That Tat.

Things should be just as competitive in the Folklore.

"It looks like it's anybody's ballgame," said Troy Young, who trains Doctor Mike. "It's a very competitive race."

CHICAGO - The top contenders in Arlington's feature race on Sunday have one serious flaw: They can't seem to win at the race conditions.

The feature is a second-level allowance at one mile, and a glance at the form reveals four primary contenders-Guapazo, Voodoo Kiss, Gold Tango, and Behind Enemy Lines. All have put together solid recent races against similar competition, but between them, they have compiled an 0-for-31 record at the second-allowance level. In other words, the horses most likely to win have only proven themselves capable of losing - over and over again.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Aly Bubba was the proverbial gleam in his father's eye when Native Desert scored a victory in the California Turf Championship at Bay Meadows in 1998.

Since that first victory, Native Desert has won the race twice more, in 2000 and 2001 - the latter a dead heat with Spinelessjellyfish. Native Desert also ran second to Del Mar Gray in 1999, the year Aly Bubba was foaled.

On Monday, the up-and-coming 4-year-old and the 10-year-old millionaire will compete in the 2003 version of the $100,000, one-mile turf race for Cal-breds.

Since he left the Pacific Northwest with an unbeaten record in the late spring of 2002, Meteoric has starred in the trials for several major Quarter Horse futurities and derbies.

The finals have been a different matter.

Meteoric finished third in the 2002 All American, second in the Los Alamitos Million, and missed the Golden State Futurity because of illness. This summer, he finished a troubled sixth in the Rainbow Derby at Ruidoso Downs.

A year of frustration in big races can end in Sunday's $694,646 All American Derby at Ruidoso Downs.