OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Dr. Doug Koch, one of the co-owners of Aqueduct Handicap winner Snake Mountain, said winning is good fun, even if he isn't the breeder.

Koch, a veterinarian, owns Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, N.Y., and has bred and raised several stakes winners at his farm, including Private Emblem, last year's Arkansas Derby winner; Rhum; and Sherpa Guide. Those horses and two others foaled at Berkshire Stud - Celtic Sky and Infinite Justice - are among the contenders for 2002 New York-bred divisional honors.

Its 2003 dates request approved Tuesday by the Illinois Racing Board, Arlington Park announced the stakes schedule for its upcoming season. Arlington had moved its meet forward on the calendar the last two years in order to host the 2002 Breeders' Cup, but now returns to its more traditional dates, from May through September. The reversion means a revamping of the stakes schedule, which had been tailored to fit a June-through-October season.

PORTLAND, Ore. - In Search of Fame, seeking his 20th local victory from 22 starts, looked like he was headed for an especially tough fight in the Directors' Handicap here last Saturday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Grade 2 British Columbia Derby highlights the recently released 2003 Hastings Park stakes schedule. The Hastings live season, which begins April 26 and closes Nov. 30, will offer 45 added-money races totaling $2,670,000, approximately 10 percent more than in 2002.

The B.C. Derby, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 21, will carry an added purse of $250,000. If the usual full field runs, it will be worth $310,000, up almost $100,000 from last year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Champali, a narrow winner of the Turfway Prevue Stakes earlier this month, ran the fastest five-furlong work of the day at Churchill Downs Trackside on Tuesday, breezing in 1:00. Champali will seek his third stakes win in the WEBN Stakes on Feb. 1 at Turfway, according to trainer Greg Foley.

In addition to the Turfway Prevue, Champali, a son of Glitterman, also won the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill in November.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Trainer Carlos "Charlie" Sedillo is one of several local trainers who have mastered the claiming game. This week Sedillo won two races with horses recently claimed on behalf of M.J. Hand and partners' Three H Racing.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In the last few weeks, Patrick Valenzuela has arguably been the least preoccupied jockey at Santa Anita or Gulfstream Park.

While other riders and their agents have been uncertain which venue offers the best chances for a winner in the inaugural Sunshine Millions program on Saturday, there have been no such painstaking decisions for Valenzuela.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The presence of the Sunshine Millions on Saturday will cost the weekend's two graded stakes at Santa Anita a few contenders.

There will not be a large field in Saturday's $200,000 Santa Monica Handicap, which will be run after the four Santa Anita races in the Sunshine Millions.

The most notable absentee is Madame Pietra, the winner of two sprint stakes last fall who is entered in the $250,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint at Gulfstream Park on the same day.

Pimlico Race Course has reinstated the Pimlico Special after a one-year hiatus and scheduled the $600,000, Grade 1 race one day before the Preakness Stakes, on May 16.

The Special will appear on the same card as the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, a race that has traditionally been run one day before the Preakness. Before its hiatus, the Pimlico Special was typically scheduled a week before the Preakness.

"We thought it best suited to our program to make Black-Eyed Susan Day an even better day," said Lou Raffetto, Pimlico's chief operating officer.

Evangeline Downs in Lafayette, La., was unanimously awarded a license to operate slot machines during a Louisiana Gaming Control Board meeting on Tuesday.

Evangeline, which plans to relocate to slots-friendly Opelousas Parish, is the third racing plant in the state to get a gaming license along with Delta Downs, which opened a casino last February, and Louisiana Downs, which plans to have slots on line by June 2003. The state's other track, Fair Grounds in New Orleans, has not received legislative passage for slots.