ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The featured race Thursday at Arlington ostensibly brings together third-level allowance horses, with a $62,500 claiming option available to bolster the field. But the six-furlong sprint might as well be written for horses who teetered on the threshold of real accomplishment - and backed away.

AUBURN, Wash. - According to Herman Sarkowsky, who bred He's Tops and Takeaway, both were cut out to be nice horses. And Sarkowsky, who has been represented by Grade 1 winners such as Phone Chatter and Dixie Union, knows a nice horse when he sees one.

BALTIMORE - After a one-year absence, the Pimlico Special is back, and one of the nation's rising stars will head the field.

Mineshaft, a winner of five of his last six starts, including the New Orleans and Ben Ali handicaps, tops a field of nine that was entered on Sunday for the $600,000 Special, which highlights an outstanding card on Friday at Pimlico Race Course.

CALGARY, Alberta - A rare stakes doubleheader, necessitated by the cancellation of Saturday's card, produced no surprises here Sunday with odds-on favorites Raylene ($3.80) capturing the Mount Royal Handicap and Taiaslew ($3.60) scoring in the President's Handicap over a deep surface rated as "slow."

Raylene, champion of her division in Alberta last year, opened her campaign with a 6 1/4-length victory over Whataweekend under patient handling from leading rider Dave Wilson.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Lost in the shuffle of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Volponi's second-place finish in his seasonal debut on Friday was the winning performance put forth by Speightstown in the race.

While Volponi was returning from a 6 1/2-month layoff, Speightstown had not been out in 21 months, since finishing second to City Zip in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 3, 2001.

Speightstown had undergone two ankle surgeries in the interim, according to trainer Todd Pletcher, who took over the 5-year-old's training from Phil England, who had Speightstown in 2001.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Total handle, ontrack handle, and ontrack attendance were all down during the 83-day winter-spring Aqueduct meet, which concluded May 4.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The long-awaited comeback of Awesome Humor comes Wednesday when the unbeaten 3-year-old filly faces five older rivals in the feature race at Churchill Downs, a $56,300 allowance at six furlongs.

Trainer Elliott Walden said he is eager to see how Awesome Humor returns from the long layoff that precluded the filly from challenging for a divisional championship last year. Awesome Humor won four races to start her career, capped by the Grade 1 Spinaway in August at Saratoga, but was forced to the sidelines to undergo ankle surgery.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - When Steve Asmussen took over Full Mandate's training in the middle of last year, he took the long view. Not that there was any other choice.

Full Mandate began his career with trainer Wayne Lukas in 2001, losing in both starts that summer as a 2-year-old. When Asmussen got him the next year, Full Mandate hadn't raced in several months, and Asmussen could barely get the colt out of a strong gallop.

"I didn't think he could run," said Asmussen. "He worked in about 1:06 for five-eighths about the fourth time we breezed him."

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The additional time trainer Christophe Clement gave Dynever to develop mentally last year paid off Saturday when the lightly raced colt remained composed through a troubled trip to win the Grade 3, $500,000 Lone Star Derby.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In her brief career as a trainer, Laura de Seroux has guided the careers of Azeri, the 2002 Horse of the Year, and several major stakes winners on turf. Until now, her stable has not included a top older male, a vacancy that may have been filled over the weekend.