Purses at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., will increase 40 percent to an average of $230,000 a day beginning with the card Friday. The dramatic boost, made possible in part by an increase in handle and the revenue from slot machines, will put Delta's distribution close to, or on par with, some of the other top meets in the region.

Fair Grounds in New Orleans pays out about $270,000 a day in purses, while the Oaklawn Park meet in Hot Springs, Ark., has budgeted $240,000. Last year, Lone Star in Dallas paid out $228,000.

Michael Gill, the owner of Casual Conflict, the gelding who was euthanized Monday after a breakdown at Gulfstream Park and subsequently had his right leg amputated by a veterinarian, said on Friday that the veterinarian had taken the leg to do his own examination into the fatal injury.

The amputation has sparked an investigation by state regulators, who said the veterinarian did not have authorization to remove the leg. The limb has been confiscated and sent to the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine for pathological testing.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Sure Shot Biscuit, who ranks as the all-time richest Iowa-bred with earnings of $1,002,019, returned to training Friday at Oaklawn Park. He is expected to make a comeback in May, said trainer Kelly Von Hemel.

Sure Shot Biscuit, 7, gets time off each winter, and this season is returning to training a little later than usual. He last raced in September, when he finished second, beaten a neck, in an optional claimer at Prairie Meadows.

"Now that he's a little older, we gave him more time," said Von Hemel.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Ben Feliciano Jr. wasn't totally surprised when Sassy Hound came up empty as the 3-5 favorite in last month's Hoover Stakes at Laurel Park.

Sassy Hound was coming off a two-month layoff - during which he had been entered and scratched four times - and typically has not fired well off the bench. But Feliciano believes with the Hoover and some solid training under his belt, Sassy Hound will be more like his old self Sunday when he heads a seven-horse field entered in a classified allowance race at Aqueduct.

NEW ORLEANS - First it was Empire Maker, then it was Peace Rules. But now it seems Bobby Frankel won't be sending a 3-year-old to Fair Grounds after all.

In the fall, Frankel expressed interest in sending the highly regarded Empire Maker to New Orleans for stakes races for the winter. Instead, he chose to keep the colt home in California, and Empire Maker was to run in Friday's Sham Stakes at Santa Anita.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed Friday that he will be sending two of his top 3-year-old prospects, Ozzie Cat and Scrimshaw, to Gulfstream Park to compete on Feb. 15 in the Grade 1 Fountain of Youth and Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes.

Lukas will run Ozzie Cat in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth and Scrimshaw in the seven-furlong Hutcheson. Ozzie Cat was beaten a neck in the Grade 3 Golden Gate Derby in his 2003 debut, and Scrimshaw has lost only once. Both horses are stabled with Lukas at Santa Anita.

SUNLAND PARK, N. M. - Sunday's six-furlong, $50,000-added Czaria Handicap at Sunland Park pits Devious Ways, the top local older female sprinter, against two tough invaders from Fair Grounds.

They are Cielo Girl, trained by Steve Asmussen, and Calma Prado, who has been here for two weeks with trainer Clifford Lambert Sr.

Devious Ways rose to the top of the division in her first start as a 4-year-old, impressively winning last month's Bold Ego Handicap here. She came into her own last summer, winning the Ruidoso Oaks.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering has launched an investigation into the mysterious chain of events following the death of Casual Conflict, a 9-year-old gelding who broke down in the seventh race Monday at Gulfstream Park, was euthanized on the track, and later had his leg amputated by a veterinarian.

Back Street Gal has done everything asked of her, but she faces her toughest test Saturday when she meets six 3-year-old fillies in the $10,000 Ms. Stakes at Portland Meadows in Portland, Ore.

Back Street Gal won her debut in a $12,500 maiden claimer on Nov. 16 for leading trainer Jim Fergason. She came back two weeks later and won the Lassie Stakes in her only other start.

Back Street Gal drew the outside post 7 for the six-furlong race.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The stakes races in northern California can wait for Redattore, who returns from a six-month break in a $70,000 allowance race at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Trainer Richard Mandella considered sending the 8-year-old Redattore to Golden Gate Fields for Saturday's Tanforan Handicap, but has opted to stay home for an easier spot. Mandella had a simple reason: Redattore developed a low-grade pneumonia when he was sent to Emerald Downs in August for the Longacres Mile, and his trainer is reluctant to ship.

"I don't want to get him sick again," Mandella said.