FORT ERIE, Ontario - There was no question as to who was the center of attention here Wednesday as Wando and his trainer, Mike Keogh, were all the rage at the ceremonial draw for Sunday's $500,000 Prince of Wales Stakes.

Wando has been pegged as Daily Racing Form's 2-5 favorite for the Prince of Wales, a possibly generous evaluation.

Owned and bred by Gustav Schickedanz, Wando drew post 4 in the field of seven entered for the Prince of Wales, a 1 3/16-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds that is the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Ask Ron Brandenburg what he did on October 16, 1999, and he is sure to grin broadly and say, "I claimed Tic N Tin." Brandenburg was already successful then, having won seven training titles at Fairmount Park in the 1990's, but Tic N Tin was, as Brandenburg put it, "a dream come true."

LAFAYETTE, La. - Shane Sellers, who still shares the record of six wins on a single Evangeline Downs program, returned to his old stomping grounds last Friday night. Sellers was in town to help raise money for an Erath, La., high school college scholarship program and was joined by his wife, two children, and 30 friends for dinner and a night of racing in the clubhouse.

Sellers joined track announcer Sean Beirne for the pre-race show and then signed autographs from

MUSKEGON, Mich. - The Rosendo Parra-owned entry of Sweetwater Promise and Born to Dance are two of the three Michigan champions who will run in Friday evening's Moonbeam Handicap at Great Lakes Downs. The $45,000 Moonbeam, at one mile, is for statebred fillies and mares. It will be run as the eighth race on a nine-race card, which gets under way at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

Omaha, Neb. - The four days of racing that make up Horsemen's Park's annual festival of racing was once again a success. Officials estimated attendance at more than 42,000 for the weekend, topped off by a huge Friday evening crowd estimated at 12,000.

Mutuel handle on the four-race cards averaged $180,452, with an ontrack average of $141,683. Friday's ontrack crowd wagered $163,271 to top the weekend totals. Weather in the mid-80's all weekend brought more people to the track after temperatures hovered closer to 100 in previous years.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Lonnie Meche, the 1997 riding champ here with 116 wins, picked up his first win of the young meet last Saturday, riding Comanche Queen to a front-running victory in the final race of the day. Meche, who rode at the Churchill Downs meet, will now be based here, according to agent Richie Price. Meche is the twin brother of jockey Donnie Meche, who is currently serving a lengthy suspension.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Walter Bindner Jr. was sporting a smart red "Seabiscuit" cap when he was encountered in his shed row here the other morning.

"Cost me $1,500," joked the trainer, who had purchased a package at a charity auction consisting of two ball caps; a couple of T-shirts; the book "Seabiscuit"; and a pass to the premiere of the widely anticipated movie based on that book in Louisville, Ky., on Friday evening.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Favorites took both the $36,000 Manitoba Maturity on Saturday and the $35,000 Derby Trial on Sunday.

Woodbine shipper Trebbiano broke in the air in the restricted Manitoba Maturity, for 4-year-old Manitoba-breds, but it made no difference in the outcome.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Double Time seeks his second stakes victory of the meeting in Friday's $5,000 Fred Mendel Memorial, and he should be the prohibitive favorite in the one-mile headliner.

A $15,000 claim by Redbird Farms at Hastings last fall, Double Time was unplaced in his first two starts of 2003, but then won the first allowance race of the meeting and the Inaugural, both at six furlongs. He comes off a win in a seven-furlong allowance race.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Graded stakes winners Pioneer Boy and Debonair Joe were among the 63 horses entered Wednesday at Canterbury Park for the Claiming Crown, the $550,000 series that will be run for the fifth time Saturday.