OCEANPORT, N.J. - The weekend of turf action at Monmouth Park concludes Sunday afternoon with the $50,000 Little Silver Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles.

While the Grade 1, $750,000 United Nations Handicap Saturday topped the grass action over the holiday weekend, the Little Silver drew a strong field of 10 sprinkled with those who have stakes experience.

The opportunity to run on grass, so limited during May and June, comes as a welcome development to many. In the case of Impolite, trained by Linda Rice, the shift back to the turf course is long overdue.

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Defending champion Hoovergetthekeys is fresh and ready to bid for a repeat in the $50,000 Alamedan Handicap as the Alameda County Fair winds up its two-week run Sunday.

Hoovergetthekeys won last year's Alamedan by a nose over Takin It Deep for his last victory.

A 5-year-old gelding, Hoovergetthekeys has seven rivals in the 1 1/16-mile race.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds run in the Frances Genter and Victor S. Myers Jr. stakes, the traditional preps at Canterbury Park for the Minnesota Oaks and Derby.

A field of seven will contest the $35,000 Vic Myers, and One by Design might prove the narrow favorite in the six-furlong sprint. A winner in his career debut last month, One by Design had trouble at the start in his last outing, when he finished third to an older rival in an allowance.

Derek Bell replaces Ed Cervantes on One by Design, who is trained by Mike Biehler.

Just Michel, first or second in all five career starts, will be a solid favorite to win her turf debut in the $40,000 Cincinnatian Stakes at River Downs.

The Cincinnatian, at 1 1/16 miles, is restricted to Ohio-bred 3-year-old fillies sired by a stallion standing in Ohio. Because of those conditions, the number of quality challengers to Just Michel is limited.

ELMONT, N.Y. - In a trouble-filled race, House Party had the smoothest trip and possessed the fastest closing kick as she rallied from next to last to win Friday's Grade 1, $200,000 by 3 1/4 lengths at Belmont Park.

Chimichurri, who was last after the opening quarter, rallied down the center of the track to get second by a half-length over the pacesetting Princess V.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Aldebaran returned to one turn, and took a turn for the better. The poster boy for late-running sprinters was back at his best distance, and his favorite track, for Friday's $150,000 at Belmont Park. He did not disappoint.

Sent off as the odds-on favorite, Aldebaran unleashed his strong closing kick to rally from last to first, then had plenty left to stave off a late challenge from Peeping Tom to win the Grade 2, seven-furlong race on a hot, humid afternoon.

On one of the hottest days of the summer, it snowed at Belmont Park. Snow Dance, enjoying the sweltering heat and firm turf that were absent when she ran here five weeks ago, scored a 27-1 surprise in the Grade 2, $250,000 .

Snow Dance ($56) tracked pacesetting Trekking for the first mile of the 1 1/4-mile turf race, took over with authority at the top of the stretch, and held off Pertuisane for a one-length victory in 1:59.63. Riskaverse was third, another three-quarters of a length back.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Got turf? They do at Lone Star Park on Sunday. Lots of it. The track has carded five of its nine races for the grass, led by a five-furlong allowance worth $34,000.

Proven Cure, Kentucky Bay, and Run Zeal Run, the first three finishers June 20 in a turf starter allowance that served as the final leg of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship, all meet in the feature Sunday.

Ronald Ardoin, who ranks as the all-time winningest jockey at Louisiana Downs, hopes to be back riding at the Bossier City, La., track later this month. He has been recuperating from an injury to his arm that he suffered in a starting gate incident at Oaklawn Park in March.

Ardoin fractured his arm when it hit the gate before a race, and while the fracture has healed, he said he did not rest the limb enough. As a result, the tendons and nerves in that arm required more time to heal.

CHICAGO - One never knows what's going through a racehorse's mind. We assign them human characteristics, like competitiveness or a lack of it, but who really can say if such terms even fall into the right realm?

With speed horses, the possibility of a cross-species disconnect lessens. Front-runners separate themselves from the herd and all of its social complexities. The will to pass? It's a nonissue.