ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Mystery Giver's history embodies what the Prairie State Festival is supposed to represent. His talent, however, may transcend it.

Mystery Giver's sire, Dynaformer, stands in Kentucky. Otherwise, he is all-Illinois. David and Patricia Block bred Mystery Giver. Their son, Chris, trains him, and the family racing partnership, Team Block, campaigns him. The Blocks hail from the rural part of Illinois Chicagoans term "downstate," farm country, and Dave Block grew up in a farming family.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Break down a horse race into its fundamental parts, and raw truths emerge. A horse must be trained to go forward. A horse's legs must support intense physical stress. And a horse needs to draw proper breath.

That last one has confounded generations of horsemen.

"You've got tongue ties, figure-eight bits," said Richard Hazelton, who has trained horses since the late 1940's. "You do this, you do that. People don't realize how much trouble you have trying to get horses to breathe right."

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - In the $75,000 White Oak Handicap, you will find a horse with two starts and a horse with 73, and somewhere in between you may find the White Oak winner.

From top to bottom, there may not be a better race than the six-furlong White Oak, part of Saturday's six-stakes Prairie State Festival at Arlington. And even novices like Cart Dancer, the two-race wonder, or the aging Tic N Tin are not without a chance.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Gary Contessa on Monday will begin serving a 20-day suspension and was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine as a result of eight horses testing positive for ephedrine earlier this year at Aqueduct.

The Maryland Racing Commission and the owners of Pimlico and Laurel Park could be headed toward a bitter showdown over upgrades at the aged, rundown facilities.

At the commission's monthly meeting on Wednesday at Laurel, commissioners clashed with representatives of Magna Entertainment Corp., majority owners of the Maryland Jockey Club, over several aspects of Magna's $46 million plan for refurbishing Laurel Park.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Tom Longstaff, who owns and trains Dancewithavixen, the likely favorite in next Saturday's Liberation Stakes, isn't afraid to gamble. He surprised a few people when he ran Dancewithavixen in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race last Saturday, only seven days after her second-place finish to Dee's Love in the Emerald Downs Handicap. Longstaff wanted to get a three-turn race into Dancewithavixen before the Liberation, and was hoping that she would have an easy time facing an overmatched field.

AUBURN, Wash. - Ema Bovary will not run in Saturday's King County Handicap for older fillies and mares, nor will she run again at the Emerald Downs meeting.

"She developed an abscess in her foot after we worked her on June 5," said trainer Sharon Ross, whose husband, Larry Ross, trained Ema Bovary in California. "We've been soaking her foot every day, and it is much better now, but we don't want to risk turning the abscess into a quarter crack. We were going to turn her out after this race anyway.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The immensely promising Nashinda will make her much anticipated second start in Saturday's $137,125 My Dear Stakes, a five-furlong dash for 2-year-old fillies.

Nashinda was one of fastest 2-year-old debut winners at Woodbine in recent years when she graduated by 3 1/2 lengths under jockey David Clark on May 17. Her 4 1/2-furlong time of 51.80 seconds was good for a Beyer Speed Figure of 87.

Trainer Mac Benson was thrilled with Nashinda's effort.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Peef and Solihull may seem like better candidates to fill out the bottom of the superfecta than to win Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate.

But both Peef's conditioner, Rita Schnitzler, and Solihull's trainer, David Bell, are not about to concede anything as their runners head into the biggest day of their young careers.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - Five fillies and mares will try to catch Tweed in Saturday's $5,000 Matron Handicap at six furlongs.

Tweed, a well-traveled 7-year-old, merits top billing based upon her 2-for-2 record at Marquis Downs, with her most recent score coming two weeks ago in the allowance prep for the Matron.

That race was run over a muddy course. Tweed assumed command early in the race, opened up a couple lengths, and was never really challenged while scoring by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:14.10. Tim Moccasin retains the mount.