SEATTLE - A group representing eastern Washington horsemen, the Organization for the Preservation of Northwest Racing, and Eric Nelson, who has been licensed to operate Playfair, have reached a purse agreement that should clear the way for Playfair to begin conducting simulcast wagering in the near future.

Jay Healy, president of the horsemen's group, said he signed a contract on Thursday that calls for minimum purses of $2,500. Healy said the contract also gives horsemen one-third of all breakage and that his group will be paid $5,000 per month to administer the purse account.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - For all the major turf stakes he has won in Florida, trainer Christophe Clement has never had a winner of the Honey Fox Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Clement came closest four years ago when Lover's Knot was beaten just a neck by Colcon in the Honey Fox, which was then known as the Joe Namath Handicap.

Sunday, assuming the Grade 3 race stays on grass, Clement could very well get off his Honey Fox schneid when he sends out a pair of British-bred 5-year-old mares, Amonita and Calista, in the 1 1/16-mile, $100,000 race.

NEW ORLEANS - Green Fee beat nine of the best turf milers in the world in his last race, but on Sunday at Fair Grounds he will have less tangible hurdles to overcome. Green Fee will be favored to win the Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap, but he has drawn the outside post in an 11-horse field and will be asked to carry 120 pounds in the 1 1/16-mile race, which is perhaps slightly farther than his best distance.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Summer Wind Dancer stands out against six rivals Sunday at Santa Anita in the Grade 3 Santa Ysabel Stakes, the first two-turn stakes of the year for 3-year-old fillies. A troubled third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet after winning the California Cup Juvenile Fillies, Summer Wind Dancer is the only Santa Ysabel entrant without a flaw.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - If she runs, Cyber Secret is the one to beat of the seven 3-year-old fillies entered in a weak edition of the $75,000-added Ruthless at Aqueduct on Sunday.

Cyber Secret's trainer, Richard Dutrow Jr., said Cyber Secret only will run in the six-furlong Ruthless if the track is fast. For Friday's card, the inner track was sloppy, with additional mixed precipitation in the forecast for Friday evening and Saturday.

"I'll run if it's a fast, dry, and safe track," said Dutrow, who trains Cyber Secret for Sanford Goldfarb and Team Julep Stable.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Something will have to change for one of the three leading contenders to find the winner's circle in Sunday's $100,000 Sensational Star Handicap at Santa Anita.

Spinelessjellyfish, the 119-pound highweight, has not won in 16 months, a span of 13 races.

Turkish Prize won the California Cup Mile last November, but has been racing in the last year at distances farther than about 6 1/2 furlongs, the trip on the downhill course for the Sensational Star.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Continental Red, who spent most of 2002 racing on turf before winning the Great State Challenge Classic in Texas on the main track last month, will stay on dirt for the $1 million Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25.

Owners Wes and Sharon Fitzpatrick and trainer Ian Jory have chosen the Classic over the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf at 1 1/8 miles at Santa Anita the same day.

"How many times do you have a chance to go for $1 million?" trainer Ian Jory said. "He's done nothing wrong on the dirt."

ALBANY, Calif. - Something perhaps even more important than purse money is on the line for five of the six older California-bred fillies and mares entered in Sunday's $100,000 Work the Crowd Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.

Each could earn the first black type (victory or placing in a stakes race) of their careers.

Bob's Lady, the 116-pound highweight in the one-mile race, is the only member of the field with black type, acquired by winning the CTBA Marian Stakes at Fairplex last fall.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - His resume would be the envy of almost any jockey in the country. A list of accomplishments that includes seven Breeders' Cup victories, four national money titles, countless riding championships and an Eclipse Award as the nation's best jockey in 1988.

But for all those accomplishments, Jose Santos's career appeared to be at a crossroads midway through the 2002 Gulfstream Park meeting as he struggled to win races and hold on to even some of his most loyal clients.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - When Tom's Thunder won last Sunday's Alex M. Robb Handicap at Aqueduct, he was owner Michael Dubb's first stakes winner.

"I'm one for one in stakes; I have to quit now," Dubb joked.

What is no joke is how well Dubb, who became an owner of Thoroughbreds 18 months ago, has been doing with horses he and trainer Pat Reynolds have acquired through the claim box.

Dubb claimed Tom's Thunder for $75,000 off of trainer Scott Lake and owner Richard Englander on Dec. 1 and won the restricted Alex M. Robb with the gelding 28 days later.