SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bay Meadows hopes to get off to a big start as it begins a 50-day fall meeting Friday.

Two stakes races are planned for opening weekend, including the $100,000 California Turf Championship, which last year was one of the meet's most hotly contested events.

Ninebanks and Surprise Halo ran one-two in the Turf Championship last year and are expected to renew their rivalry. Ninebanks won two graded stakes races this spring, and Surprise Halo is coming off a victory in the $100,000 Joseph Grace Handicap at Santa Rosa.

Ameri Brilliance set a world record of 43.76 seconds for four furlongs on dirt Saturday at Timonium. A 4-year-old Ameri Valay gelding, Ameri Brilliance won the optional claiming race by eight lengths.

The former world record for a half-mile on dirt was 43.80, set by Adventuresome Love in 1993 at Stampede Park and tied by Hafta Nafta three years later, also at Stampede.

Owned by Elaine Bassford and trained by Ben Feliciano Jr., Ameri Brilliance was coming off a 6 1/4-length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong allowance sprint at Mountaineer Park.

Sulamani, who was placed first by the stewards in the Grade 1 Arlington Million, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Turf Classic Invitational on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park, Godolphin Racing Inc. announced on its website Wednesday.

The Turf Classic, run at 1 1/2 miles, will be Sulamani's final prep before the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Say farewell to some old, familiar New Jersey stakes races.

Longtime Meadowlands Racetrack handicap fixtures such as the Pegasus, the Cliff Hanger, and the Boiling Springs will not be offered this year, and the savings will be reallocated to overnight purses.

Mr Ross, one of the top handicap horses in this region for four years, has been retired to the Edmond, Okla., farm of his owner, Don McNeill.

Trainer Donnie Von Hemel, who managed the 8-year-old gelding throughout his career, said the decision was made because, "The suspensory that he had been fighting last year reappeared. It was a good time to call it quits."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Few things are more heartbreaking for a horseplayer than to see his horse flatten out in the final furlong of a race after making a premature move, something that happens regularly at every track.

A prime example is the Woodbine-based Perfect Soul's try in the Grade 1 Arlington Million Aug. 16. Perfect Soul raced in mid-pack early before making a bold wide bid on the far turn of the 1 1/4-mile race. He hit the front at the top of the stretch, where he looked like a winner, only to gradually weaken and finish less than a length back in fifth.

AUBURN, Wash. - Last Sunday's Longacres Mile Day program was one for the record books.

First there was Sky Jack's performance in the Mile itself. Sky Jack's 44.40-second half-mile, 1:33 final time, and 6 1/2-length win margin are records in the 68-year history of the Northwest's premier race.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - With its quaint setting in the Berkshire Mountains, the Northampton Fair is a throwback to old-time rural New England. Officials are hoping that its 10 days of racing, beginning Friday, will be a throwback to the glory days of Massachusetts's vibrant fair circuit.

Hoosier Park ushers in the Labor Day weekend Friday when the Anderson, Indiana, track opens for a 70-day meet that runs through Dec. 4.

The track has reduced some of its higher-end purses and will offer a bottom purse of $7,000 for open company races. Purses for Indiana-breds took the biggest hit with $10,000 shaved from the track's standard scale of maiden, nonwinners of two, and nonwinners of three, which this year will go for $12,000, $13,000, and $14,000, respectively.

LAFAYETTE, La. - When the Evangeline Downs meet concludes on Monday, it will mark the end of an era.

It won't be a melancholy occasion, however, as good things lie ahead for Evangeline Downs, which will have a slots casino up and running by the time it begins its 2004 racing season next April 1. The present facility will host one more season of racing, while the casino will be located at Evangeline's new site 15 miles north on I-49. Racing is scheduled to begin there in 2005.