At first, Prized Amberpro appeared to be a cheap horse, not a stakes horse, and later she seemed like a one-run sprinter, not a horse with the stamina for route races. Now, after winning 14 races and more than $300,000, the question is not what Prized Amberpro can do, but what can't she do?

Herman Taylor used to harvest several crops on his farm in central Louisiana. What he has raised on the farm now is much better, a cash crop named Walk in the Snow, who has earned barrels of money and a spot - for at least the moment - as Louisiana's best racehorse.

The Hawthorne Gold Cup next year will return to its traditional slot in the fall and the value of the Grade 2 stakes will increase from $500,000 to $750,000, making it one of the richest preps for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The Hawthorne Gold Cup, scheduled for Sept. 28, is the richest of 13 stakes that will be offered at Hawthorne during its 2003 fall meet, which runs from Sept. 28 through Dec. 31 The stakes schedule was released by Hawthorne Race Course Thursday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Fairplex Park will host training races on Jan. 20, hoping to revive a long dormant method of readying horses for racing at Southern California tracks.

The training races are scheduled for about four furlongs, a distance that Fairplex Park offered only occasionally during its September fair meeting.

The races will be open to 3-year-olds and up and could become a regular feature if demand is high enough, track officials said.

ALBANY, Calif. - Distance and the likelihood of an off track will test seven 2-year-olds competing in Saturday's $75,000-added Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate Fields.

But the primary obstacles for most of the field are D's Bertrando, the likely odds-on choice, and Buddy Gil, who won the six-furlong Golden Bear Stakes on a dull track and who should receive heavy support as well.

ALBANY, Calif. - Owner Dennis Narlinger admits he is thinking of the classics for D's Bertrando next year. Donnie McFadden, the breeder and co-owner of Buddy Gil, says he was only hoping for a nice horse, and is thrilled by his horse's progress.

The matchup between these two rising 2-year-olds in Saturday's $75,000 Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate Fields has piqued the interest of northern California racing fans.

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - A Ransom is less than 22 seconds from joining one of Quarter Horse racing's most elite groups.

On Saturday night at Los Alamitos, the 6-year-old A Ransom will attempt to become the fifth horse to win at least two runnings of the Champion of Champions, a 440-yard stakes for older Quarter Horses.

A Ransom won the race in 2000. Those who have won the Champion of Champions more than once are Dash for Cash (1976-77), Refrigerator (1992-94), SLM Big Daddy (1997-98), and Tailor Fit (1999, 2001).

Gal on the Go didn't go to Fair Grounds after the Churchill Downs fall meet, as she did in 2001. Instead, she will start as the likely favorite in Saturday's $50,000 My Charmer Stakes at Turfway Park.

The decision by trainer Vickie Foley makes sense. Winless in 10 starts this season, Gal on the Go finds herself with a good opportunity to break her losing streak. Although she faces 11 rivals in the 1 1/16-mile My Charmer, most are money allowance horses and minor stakes runners.

Invader, the odds-on favorite disqualified from first in last month's Showtime Deb Stakes at Hawthorne, seeks redemption in Saturday's $100,000 Illinois Breeders Debutante. The Debutante is a 1 1/16-mile stakes race for 2-year-old Illinois-bred fillies at Hawthorne.

The Debutante looks a lot like the Showtime Deb as far as the field is concerned. Seven fillies, including five of the top six finishers in the Showtime Deb, were entered in the Debutante.

Jerry Bailey doesn't ride in Maryland very often. Bailey hasn't accepted a mount at Laurel Park in more than a year.

Bailey last appeared in Maryland during Preakness week, when he rode Chamrousse to victory in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. His last ride at Laurel produced a win for Delaware Township in the 2001 De Francis Memorial Dash.

So that Bailey is coming to Laurel for Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Anne Arundel Stakes is a pretty good endorsement for the 3-year-old filly he will ride, To the Queen.