ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Maple Syrple, a filly facing males, figures to be the heavy favorite in Saturday's $166,500 Clarendon Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds at Woodbine.

Maple Syrple, a $350,000 2-year-old purchase by Team Valor Stable and Robert Wilson, was a dazzling first-out winner May 31. She won that 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight sprint by eight lengths under Patrick Husbands, and was awarded a Beyer Speed Figure of 83.

Trainer Mark Casse said he believes Maple Syrple had something left in the tank.

AUBURN, Wash. - It's a week late and a horse short, but the one- mile, $50,000 King County Handicap for older fillies and mares will be run as rescheduled on Saturday at Emerald Downs.

Originally slated to be run last Sunday with a field of eight, the King County was one of five races called off after sudden rains rendered the racing surface unsafe.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Northern Neechitoo, Alberta's champion older filly or mare in 2001 and a winner of her last two starts at Stampede Park this spring, will face only three opponents here in Saturday's $40,000 Wild Rose Handicap.

The field of four represents half of the nominees for the 20th running of the 6 1/2-furlong race.

Trained by Floyd Arthur, Northern Neechitoo comes into the Wild Rose in fine form. In her first start of the year, she failed to fire in the Marc Jenkins Memorial at six furlongs over a muddy track.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Three-year-olds take center stage at Hastings on Saturday, as colts and geldings line up in the $75,000 Burnaby Breeders' Cup and fillies square off in the $40,000 Liberation. Both races are at 1 1/16 miles.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The Grade 1 Secretariat lies two months ahead, but the race already is starting to look good. Saturday, the Grade 2, $175,000 Arlington Classic begins Arlington's loosely linked Mid-America Triple, the three-race series of 3-year-old grass races culminating in the Secretariat.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Storming Home, perhaps the top turf horse in the United States this year, will pass the $750,000 United Nations Handicap at Monmouth Park July 5 and be pointed for the $1 million Arlington Million Aug. 16, trainer Neil Drysdale said Thursday.

A 5-year-old, Storming Home is unbeaten in two starts at Hollywood Park this year, winning the Jim Murray Memorial Handicap at 1 1/2 miles May 10 and the Grade 1 Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap at 1 1/4 miles June 14.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Other than the Breeders' Cup last fall, trainer Todd Pletcher can't recall running a horse at Arlington Park. Thursday, Lismore Knight was on his way from Pletcher's Belmont barn to Chicago for Saturday's Arlington Classic. His rival trainers in New York must wish he had sent the entire stable.

With two more wins Wednesday at Belmont, Pletcher was up to 27 for the meet, far ahead of his closest pursuers. An amazingly wet spell of weather there hasn't kept him from winning a slew of maiden and lower-level allowance races with well-bred young horses.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day on Thursday became the latest member of the Churchill Downs riding colony to be penalized by the stewards for "failing to persevere to the wire" when he was fined $250 for his ride aboard Miu Miu in the ninth race Sunday.

Miu Miu, trained by Bill Mott, finished sixth, beaten a nose for fifth, in an allowance race worth $43,920. The purse payout for finishing fifth was $1,215. Four other Churchill jockeys have been fined at least $250 for similar infractions. Every incident has involved horses in contention for fourth or fifth place.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Trainer Troy Bethke, who has maintained a stable at Canterbury Park since it opened in 1985, was suspended for 90 days by the Canterbury Park stewards for possession of a cattle prod that was discovered in his tack room on June 14.

The stewards have forwarded the matter to the Minnesota Racing Commission with the recommendation that an additional 90-day penalty be levied because of the severity of the offense. Bethke's suspension was scheduled to have started Friday.

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Traditionally one of the top races of the summer fair season, Saturday's Sam J. Whiting Handicap at the Alameda County Fair promises to live up to its past history.

Six stakes winners will be in the field of nine in the six-furlong Whiting, a $50,000 race for 3-year-olds and up.

Trainer Art Sherman will saddle two of the stakes winners, Presidio Heights and Con Quixote. Con Quixote will be making his first start since finishing third in the Cal Cup Sprint last Nov. 2.