AUBURN, Wash. - Friday's second leg of the Harley Hoppe and Associates Marathon Series at 1 1/4 miles will have the look of a rematch, with the top three finishers from the initial nine-furlong leg returning. Five others join the fray at Emerald Downs for the race run under $10,000 starter allowance conditions.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - A small but interesting field has signed up for Friday's $40,000-added James F. Lyttle Memorial Handicap at the Sonoma County Fair.

Only five 3-year-olds were nominated for the 1 1/16-mile race, and all five entered, the same number as ran in the Pleasanton Stakes on July 2 at Pleasanton.

Allwood, second the in Pleasanton, looms the one to beat, but two sprinters making their first starts around two turns make the race interesting from a wagering perspective.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Brite Steel has won her last three races at Marquis Downs and should be favored in Friday's $6,500 James Leakos Sophomore.

The race is restricted to Saskatchewan-bred 3-year-old fillies and is contested at one mile, which may provide some hope for Brite Steel's foes.

It took Brite Steel three starts this year to get past her nonwinners-of-two condition before she stepped up to face the top fillies on the grounds.

The Indiana Racing Commission on Tuesday denied a formal petition by Indiana Downs, the new racing entity located in the Indianapolis suburb of Shelbyville, to ban all Kentucky simulcasts in the state. The ruling upheld the status quo at Indiana tracks and wagering outlets in regard to imported simulcasts of Kentucky racing.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Shug McGaughey is looking forward to the opportunity of running Congrats, a lightly raced 3-year-old colt, in the $500,000 Jim Dandy on Sunday at Saratoga despite the presence of seasoned horses like Empire Maker.

Congrats, a homebred son of A.P. Indy, has won 3 of 5 starts and is coming off his best effort yet - a 5 1/4-length second-level allowance victory while racing with Lasix for the first time. He was bred and is owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Azeri, the reigning Horse of the Year, has been confirmed as on schedule for the $300,000 Clement Hirsch Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 10, where she will try for her 11th consecutive win.

Owner Michael Paulson and trainer Laura de Seroux had considered two races against males - Saturday's Whitney Handicap at Saratoga and Sunday's $250,000 San Diego Handicap - but opted to stay within the filly and mare division.

"As Mike said, it's the unknown of the weather and the travel," de Seroux said of the Whitney. "We're not afraid of the competition."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Roger Attfield will be busy this weekend in stakes races, but he also will be looking to whet his appetite for action in a pair of allowance races Friday.

Red Sea, owned by Attfield and several partners, is in a field of 12 for the $80,900 eighth race, an open allowance at seven furlongs on turf, which is a prep for the Aug. 16 Play the King Handicap.

Also on Friday, Attfield is running Mazengah, a 3-year-old owned by Legacy Thoroughbreds, against four others in a second-level allowance for 3-year-olds and upward.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Mark Casse is perennially the most active and winningest 2-year-old trainer at Woodbine, and with good reason.

Casse has played a dominant role in local 2-year-old racing throughout the past decade, thanks mainly to a steady diet runners from Harry Mangurian's Mockingbird Farm. Mangurian dispersed his operation a few years ago, and Casse currently trains for a wide variety of high-profile owners, including Stonerside Stable, Team Valor Stable, and Eugene Melnyk.

Whosleavingwho, the 2002 co-world champion, will surpass the $1 million mark in career earnings if he can win the Grade 1, $125,600 Vessels Maturity at Los Alamitos on Saturday night.

Whosleavingwho, who has made 31 career starts, comes into the 400-yard Vessels Maturity with earnings of $951,723. He will earn $52,836 if he wins the Maturity.

Frostys Money Man will try to win his fourth derby when he starts in the second of three trials to the Grade 1 Remington Park Derby on Friday night.

Trained by Rodney Reed, Frostys Money Man has wins this year in the Grade 1 Heritage Place Derby, the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby, and the Grade 3 Blue Ribbon Derby.

Also on the Friday night card are six trials to the Grade 1 Remington Park Futurity. Among the trial entrants are Grade 2 Lazy E Futurity winner Blazin Maddie and Shebester Futurity winner Counting on Colors.