OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Aqueduct's 6 1/2-month meet comes to a conclusion on Sunday with the $75,000-added Kings Point Handicap.

Gander, one of the most accomplished New York-breds in history, would have added spice to the restricted Kings Point, but he is not among the starters. Gander's connections, citing the 126-pound weight assignment for the Kings Point, will run him instead in Wednesday's $100,000 Westchester Handicap on opening day at Belmont Park.

Favoritism could fall to Lord ofthe Thunder in the 1 1/8-mile Kings Point, which drew eight runners.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Nominated four times to Thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame, and passed over four times, disappointed trainer Mel Stute has had his fill. Stute was nominated in 1997 and each of the past three years with the same result. He was passed over again this week when Sonny Hine was elected.

"I'm going to tell them I don't want to be nominated again," Stute said Friday. "This is my fourth time, and after a while you start to feel dumb."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Senor Swinger was bought privately in March by prominent owners Bob and Beverly Lewis as a Kentucky Derby hopeful.

He skipped that race after running fifth in the Wood Memorial, but may still turn out to be an important 3-year-old.

Friday, Senor Swinger made his turf debut, scoring a convincing victory in the $121,400 Crown Royal American Turf at Churchill Downs, one of four stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockeys Jerry Bailey and Larry Melancon were having a friendly conversation as they battled noses apart aboard You and Fly Borboleta on the backstretch during Friday's $300,000 Louisville Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs.

"Larry said he didn't know how much class his filly had," Bailey said. "I told him you'll find out around the five-sixteenths pole."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Turf specialists The Tin Man and Continental Red turned in relatively fast workouts Friday, preparing for the $400,000 Jim Murray Handicap on Saturday. The purse of the 1 1/2-mile turf race has been boosted from $75,000-added in an effort to make it one of the premier long-distance turf races in Southern California. Already, the field is likely to attract a stronger group than the Grade 1 San Juan Capistrano run April 20 at Santa Anita.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Shake You Down has run two monster races since being claimed by trainer Scott Lake. Not surprisingly, he will make his next start in a stakes. It's just a question of which one.

Lake, who also owns Shake You Down, nominated the 5-year-old to next Saturday's $100,000 Bold Ruler at Belmont Park. If Lake decides that the Grade 3 Bold Ruler is too close to Shake You Down's last race, on April 26, he will run the horse in the $200,000 Maryland Breeders' Cup at Pimlico on the Preakness undercard, May 17.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Dynever heads what could be a full field for the Grade 3, $500,000 Lone Star Derby on Saturday. The 1 1/8-mile race is the richest of the meet at Lone Star Park, and had 10 early probables as of Friday.

Dynever, preparing for the Lone Star Derby, worked a half-mile in 50.05 seconds over Belmont's main track on Friday morning.

"It was a very good work," said Christophe Clement, Dynever's trainer, who timed the colt galloping out five furlongs in 1:01 and change. "He's very fit. He's the type of horse that doesn't need very much work."

Although Coquettish most recently finished last, beaten nearly 14 lengths, as the heavy favorite in the April 26 Caesar's Wish Stakes at Pimlico, trainer Graham Motion is going ahead with plans to tackle Delaware Park's major stakes races for 3-year-old fillies.

Motion said he believes Coquettish did not like the muddy track in her last start and her chances were further compromised by a bent shoe on her right front foot.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jim Day allowed himself a smile earlier this week when he was informed of Dance Smartly's induction into the Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in Saratoga, N.Y.

"She seemed like a 1-5 shot to get in, to me," said Day. "But, maybe I'm prejudiced."

It was Day, of course, who trained Dance Smartly throughout a career that included an undefeated eight-start 1991 campaign that led to her being voted the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly and Sovereign Awards as Canada's Horse of the Year and outstanding 3-year-old filly.

ALBANY, Calif. - Getting a 5 percent return on your money doesn't seem so bad in these economic times.

Racetrack bridge-jumpers have long accepted the 5 percent, overloading show pools, and taking their $2.10 return on $2 short-term investment.

Wednesday, for the second time at Bay Meadows in just over one month, a bridge-jumper plunged and lost when Pilgrim Miss finished fourth, beaten a head for third in the final jump.