HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Every Thoroughbred statebred program in North America comes with incentives. Call it protec-tionism, but the parameters that have evolved within programs in many jurisdictions can make buying a statebred a lucrative proposition indeed.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In the past six months, Sean Gerson has gone from being a prospective horse owner to a winner's circle veteran with a stakes-winning filly and a website promoting his stable.

Last summer, Gerson, the owner of six veterinary clinics for small animals in California, was ready to take the plunge into racehorse ownership. He hooked up with trainer Mike Mitchell, claimed his first horse at Del Mar, and in November paid $20,000 for a 50 percent share in a maiden claimer.

NEW ORLEANS - Trainer Gene Cilio thinks Allspice will turn out to be at least as good as Lakenheath, who won the Grade 3 Silverbulletday for him here two seasons ago.

Funny he should mention Lakenheath. She has popped up at Fair Grounds in Saturday's sixth race, a high-end allowance at one mile that drew a field of six. Lakenheath's start comes a day before Allspice races Sunday in the $100,000 Tiffany Lass Stakes, a possible prelude to her own run at the Silverbulletday. Both Allspice and the 5-year-old Lakenheath are owned by Jim Tafel.

Pimlico Race Course will offer head-to-head betting on the Preakness Stakes and 11 other stakes races this year, racing officials said Thursday.

The head-to-head bets will be offered on any stakes race run on May 16 and May 17, according to Lou Raffetto, the track's chief operating officer. That will include the Preakness, the Pimlico Special, and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, Pimlico's three biggest races.

The head-to-head bets were approved on Wednesday by the Maryland Racing Commission. The vote was 3-2.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Discussions continue between the Oak Tree Racing Association and Fairplex Park regarding a potential overlap of the two meetings on the final weekend of September, representatives of the two organizations told the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.

Oak Tree, which leases Santa Anita in the fall, has proposed to run Sept. 27-28, the weekend before its regular meet is scheduled to open, to conduct two days of racing that will feature four prep races for the Breeders' Cup, to be run at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When she left here, Svea Dahl was stuck in allowance races and high-priced claimers. Since being taken for $62,500 on June 26, and taken back east, she has developed into a graded stakes winner, with four victories in her last five starts.

Svea Dahl hopes to be the homecoming queen on Saturday, when she returns to Santa Anita and heads the field in the $750,000 Sunshine Millions Distaff, the richest of the four Sunshine Millions races that will be held at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Forbidden Apple is 8 years old and going out; Mayakovsky is only 4 years old and coming up. The veteran and the upstart arrive at career crossroads Saturday, when they meet once and for all in the $750,000 Sunshine Millions Turf at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Sightseek developed into a promising member of the filly and mare division in 2002 with an undefeated record on dirt, including two graded stakes in the final months of the year.

When Sightseek makes her first start as a 4-year-old in Saturday's $200,000 Santa Monica Handicap at Santa Anita, she will also be making her debut in a Grade 1 race - a level at which trainer Bobby Frankel expects her to be competitive in 2003.

NEW ORLEANS - Lone Star Sky and Most Feared sputtered out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with mediocre performances, but the fact they were good enough even to try the race might give these colts an edge Saturday in the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds.

Or it might not.

PORTLAND, Ore. - The cream of the local 3-year-old crop will be on display in Saturday's one-mile allowance feature at Portland Meadows, which will serve as a prep for upcoming stakes.

The field of seven includes Oregon Futurity winner Glad to Be Here, Columbia River Stakes winner Stately Jack Flash, and Bill Wineberg Stakes winner Yada Yada Yada.