HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Saturday's Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Handicap lost its defending champion and marquee attraction when Hook and Ladder was forced to pass the race because of a throat ailment.

NEW ORLEANS - His trainer said all Connected needed was a little racing luck. He finally got it Thursday in the $75,000 Louisiana Handicap.

Hemmed inside at the back of a bunched field turning for home, Connected found room at the furlong pole and rallied strongly under Larry Melancon to post a 2 1/4-length win.

"It was a question of if he could get out," said David Carroll, who trains Connected. "This horse deserved to win one."

During its fall-winter meet, which ended Jan. 1, Hawthorne Race Course posted strong gains in handle that were tied directly to interstate simulcasting on the track's races, which averaged a healthy 9.61 starters.

NEW ORLEANS - Of the 18 horses nominated to Sunday's Colonel E. R. Bradley Handicap, as many as 11 or 12 are expected to start, but Mystery Giver is one of the few who will pass Fair Grounds' first turf stakes for older horses.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Longtime horseplayers who remembered the name Michael Brice have probably done quite well for themselves the last several months. Those who haven't recognized the name are quickly becoming acquainted with the longshot players' new best friend.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Saturday's $75,000 Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct is unlikely to produce a starter for the spring classics, but it should give trainer Gary Contessa a better line on what kind of 3-year-old he has in Grey Comet.

After winning all three of his starts against New York-breds, Grey Comet meets open company for the first time in the Count Fleet, run at a mile and 70 yards over the inner track.

"It's an acid test," said Contessa, who saddled his meet-leading 10th winner on Thursday, longshot Toga's Triumph. "I think he's an open company-caliber horse."

The popular belief that there are few talented 3-year-olds during the winter at Turfway Park might have held true in some years, but not in 2003. Great Notion, a speedy 3-year-old colt who is unbeaten in two starts, headlines Saturday's $50,000 Turfway Prevue.

Great Notion, a 3-year-old son of Elusive Quality, has shown high speed and much heart. Dismissed at 26-1 in his debut at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30, he set a pressured pace and gamely turned aside two challenges to win by a nose. He raced six furlongs in 1:09.94.

Steve Asmussen, who saddled more winners than any other trainer in 2002, is in a good position to win the Saturday night stakes at both Sam Houston Race Park in Houston and Delta Downs in Vinton, La.

Asmussen has the probable favorites for both races, with the consistent Term Sheet taking on 11 other older horses at seven furlongs in the $50,000 Sprint Handicap at Sam Houston, and Slam Bam looking to run back to the 93 Beyer Speed Figure he earned last out in the $40,000 Triple Sec for 3-year-olds at Delta.

PHOENIX - Turf Paradise has carded a stakes doubleheader on Saturday.

Komax, a multiple stakes winner over this track, leads a field of nine going 6 1/2 furlongs in the $35,000 Cactus Wren Handicap for Arizona-bred older horses. One race later, Eagleton, another multiple local stakes winner, is the horse to beat among seven in the $35,000 Kokopelli Handicap. The Kokopelli, at a mile on the turf, is for 4-year-olds and upward.

SUNLAND PARK N.M. - Espeedytoo, the New Mexico-bred 3-year-old filly sensation of last year, will take on open company in Saturday's $50,000-added Bold Ego Handicap for older fillies and mares at 5 1/2 furlongs.