DEL MAR, Calif. - The hard-luck comeback story of Sarava just got a whole lot harder, and he's going to need a whole lot more luck. Just hours after finishing sixth of nine in an allowance race on Saturday at Del Mar, in his first start since winning the 2002 Belmont Stakes, Sarava underwent emergency surgery for a twisted colon at the San Luis Rey Equine Clinic.

As of Monday morning, Sarava was doing better, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert. But Baffert cautioned that Sarava is "not out of the woods."

DEL MAR, Calif. - Megahertz scored her first win in a Grade 1 race in Saturday's $400,000 John Mabee Handicap at Del Mar, outrunning Tates Creek, Dublino, and Golden Apples, who finished in a three-way dead heat for second.

Making her fourth start in a Grade 1 stakes, Megahertz ($18.40) rallied wide under jockey Alex Solis to reach the front in the final strides.

Megahertz, 4, finished a half-length in front of the trio after 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.09. Voz de Colegiala, who led until early stretch, finished last of five.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Wednesday kicks off a very interesting week of racing for trainer Ben Perkins Jr. at Monmouth Park.

Perkins will run the unbeaten Unforgettable Max in the Wednesday's featured $39,000 allowance race.

Sunday, Perkins swings for the track's biggest prize, the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Invitational, with Max Forever.

Perkins expressed ambivalence about a Haskell bid following Max Forever's victory in the Grade 3 Long Branch Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Next Monday will mark a very unhappy one-year anniversary for trainer Steve Owens and others who suffered losses in a barn fire that led to the deaths of 34 horses here at Woodbine.

Owens lost his entire ontrack complement of 14 horses, a crushing blow for the racing and breeding programs of his own family and of several longtime owners.

"It's been a traumatic experience," Owens said. "All of my owners have suffered. Some of them are trying to get back into the game, and it's a long grieving process."

DEL MAR, Calif. - Kona Gold, the 2000 Eclipse Award-winning sprinter who won stakes from ages 5 through 9, was retired on Sunday, one day after finishing fifth in Del Mar's Bing Crosby Handicap, his first career loss at Del Mar.

Trainer Bruce Headley and owners Andrew and Irwin Molasky made the announcement. "Enough is enough," Headley said. "It's time to let him retire. He doesn't have any speed anymore. He's 9 1/2 years old. He's done so much."

DEL MAR, Calif. - Two years ago in the , Special Ring bolted, ran off to a needless long lead, and tired to finish last. He was gelded before he ran again.

Since then, he had won five times in 11 starts, and had come tantalizingly close to winning a graded stakes. He waited until Sunday, though, in the 30th running of the Grade 1 Eddie Read, to run the race of his life.

In a dominating, front-running performance, Special Ring led every step of the way and cruised home a five-length winner while smashing Del Mar's course record for 1 1/8 miles on turf.

AUBURN, Wash. - Poker Brad pressed the moderate pace of Sabertooth to the top of the stretch, then kicked away to post a 3 1/2-length victory in Sunday's $100,000 Handicap at Emerald Downs.

Poker Brad, a 5-year-old son of Go for Gin who races for Quadrun Farm LLC, covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.80 to defeat the favored Moonlight Meeting, who was up for second by a neck over Alfurune. Sabertooth held fourth in the field of seven.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Centerofattention ($16) sat off a pace duel between A B Noodle and Knockout Crown and outfinished Knockout Crown late to win the $53,900, at the Sonoma County Fair on Sunday.

"We kinda knew we made a mistake chasing A B Noodle last time," said winning jockey Joey Castro of the 5-year-old mare who had finished fourth in the Alameda County Fillies & Mares Handicap. "Maybe it cost her second or third. We shipped in early, and I worked her and realized we were better off settling in."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Twilights Prayer, benefiting from a typically patient turf ride by Joe Bravo, burst through horses in the stretch Sunday afternoon to win the $50,000 Spruce Fir Handicap at Monmouth Park.

Twilights Prayer ($3.40) ran the one mile in 1:36.62 over the firm course, beating Someones Coming by 1 3-4 lengths with So Excited third.

It was a repeat win for Twilights Prayer in the stakes for New Jersey-bred fillies and mares.

The 5-year-old mare posted her sixth career win, all on the grass.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Anybody who had already conceded defending champion Azeri a second straight Breeders'Cup Distaff and division championship may be having second thoughts after watching Sightseek register her third straight one sided Grade 1 victory, a stunning 11 1/2 length triumph over She's Got The Beat and four other overmatched rivals in Sunday's $250,000 at Saratoga.

Sightseek's easy win was trainer Bobby Frankel's 15th Grade 1 victory of the year. She also gave jockey Jerry Bailey his fourth consecutive winner on Sunday's card and fifth Go For Wand victory.