LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Posse got an excellent trip under Corey Lanerie and lived up to favoritism by collaring Bossanova in deep stretch to win the $111,400 Matt Winn Stakes.

Posse returned $4.40 to win after finishing a half-length ahead of Bossanova in the second running of the Winn, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds. Bossanova, who dueled Cat Genius into defeat following fractions of 21.13 and 43.97 seconds, held second by another 1 1/4 lengths over Coach Jimi Lee, the 5-2 second choice in a field of nine.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Rene Douglas rode the winner in 11 stakes races here last year, tying an Arlington record, and that familiar face popped into Arlington winner's circle again after the $100,000 Black Tie Affair Handicap.

But not without a struggle.

Riding hard from the half-mile to the finish, Douglas urged Full Mandate to a neck victory over Bonus Pack in Arlington's first stakes race this season. Full Mandate rallied into contention around the far turn and outlasted Bonus Pack for the first stakes win of his career.

City Fire, idle since a last-place finish in the Grade 3 Forward Gal Stakes at Gulfstream Park March 14, bounced back with a flourish, winning the $75,000 Hilltop Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. The win was City Fire's fourth in her last seven starts.

Sent off at 7-2, City Fire was sent alertly to the front, set the pace along the rail, and opened daylight in the stretch to win by three lengths. Impolite was second, a length in front of Apple Juice in third. Demetra's Love, the even-money favorite, was fourth.

Private Lap broke sharply, went right to the front, and stayed there to defeat 3-2 favorite Classic Endeavor and win the $59,300 Quick Card for 3-year-olds and up.

Classic Endeavor tracked the winner in second place all the way, trailing by only a length at the head of the stretch. Then Private Lap opened up under Anthony Black and won by 5 1/2 lengths.

Saddled by meet-leading trainer Allen Iwinski, Private Lap ran the mile in 1:37.85 over a sloppy track and paid $6.20. Three early scratches reduced the field from nine horses to six.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Phantom Light dueled through honest fractions and kept on going to score his first stakes win in the Grade 3 Eclipse Handicap.

Phantom Light hooked up with Tempered Appeal through fractions of 23.15 seconds and 46.94 in the 1 1/16-mile race for older runners. Phantom Light assumed command on the far turn and drew off from a stalking Anglian Prince in the stretch to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths in a final time of 1:43.62.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Under Mike Rowland, odds-on favorite Waist Gunner John rallied five wide on the turn and won the $35,000 Quick Step Handicap. Heat Seeker, a 38-1 outsider, was close up all the way and finished 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner and 2 1/2 lengths in front of third-place finisher Wirebender.

Waist Gunner John, owned and trained by Chuck Kovach, ran the six furlongs of the Quick Step in 1:11.88 over a drying-out racetrack and boosted his lifetime earnings to $151,032.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The layoff horse won, but it wasn't Volponi. The Breeders' Cup Classic winner was the prohibitive 2-5 favorite against five other sprinters in Friday's $56,000 classified allowance feature at Belmont Park, but he fell a neck short to Speightstown, a 5-year-old horse who had not raced since a second-place finish at Saratoga back on Aug. 3, 2001.

ALTOONA, Iowa - Jim Rasmussen announced his resignation as chairman of the board of the Racing Association of Central Iowa on Friday. The association operates Prairie Meadows racetrack and casino.

The resignation comes several months after the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation revealed evidence that Rasmussen and his two sons had placed bets on football games with a local bookmaker. Rasmussen reportedly paid off a debt of several thousand dollars that he and his sons had compiled.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Buddy Gil, the Santa Anita Derby winner, who finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby, will be out of training for two months after undergoing surgery on Wednesday to have a bone chip removed from an ankle, trainer Jeff Mullins said.

Mullins said the surgery was performed by Dr. Larry Bramlage in Kentucky and that the operation to the gelding's left ankle was termed a "100 percent success."

A three-time stakes winner this year, Buddy Gil will remain in Kentucky during the recovery and will rejoin Mullins's stable later this summer.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There are no stakes at Churchill Downs on Sundays in the spring, but labels can fool you. The feature race here Sunday attracted a field of stakes-caliber turf horses, no doubt lured at least in part by the $73,400 purse.

Quest Star, winner of the Grade 2 Pan American Handicap two starts back, is one of several highly accomplished runners in the ninth of 10 races, a 1 1/8-mile grass race.