VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The amazing Smugglers Cove will try to win her 10th race of the Hastings meet in a $32,000 optional sprint for fillies and mares Saturday. There should be plenty of pace to set up her good late move, and she figures to be a prohibitive favorite.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Our Lucky Kiss and Roada Ghost, the one-two finishers in the Janet Wineberg Stakes on Nov. 16, renew their rivalry at Portland Meadows on Saturday in the $10,000 Lassie Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going six furlongs.

Our Lucky Kiss was a strong favorite for the six-furlong Janet Wineberg, and she lived up to her billing, drawing away to score by 3 1/2 lengths after pressing the pace of Roada Ghost early. Our Lucky Kiss, who is trained by Nick Lowe, again figures to be favored Saturday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Cheap Talk, a major contender in Saturday's $137,500 Kennedy Road Stakes, is one of the great success stories of the 2002 Woodbine meeting.

Owner-trainer Bob Tiller paid just $2,700 for Cheap Talk as a yearling, and subsequently gave half of him to his assistant, Tom Lottridge. After going unraced last year at 2, Cheap Talk has earned nearly $300,000 for Lottridge and Tiller, who said he almost gave away the quirky New York-bred at one point.

NEW ORLEANS - With Fair Grounds focusing on field size this season, a slow day at the entry box on Wednesday - just a day into the meet - provided reason for concern, but entries quickly picked up again on Thursday, and Saturday's featured turf allowance drew an encouraging field of 10. In it you will find Fair Grounds staple Coach Rags who will prep for a start two weeks from now in the Louisiana Champions Day Turf, a race he won three seasons ago.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The similarities are remarkable. Last year, Belterra won a maiden race at Keeneland for trainer Carl Nafzger and an allowance at Churchill Downs before staying unbeaten with a victory in the Golden Rod Stakes.

This year, Nafzger is back in the Golden Rod with a filly who started her career by winning a Keeneland maiden race and a Churchill allowance - My Boston Gal, who has been so spectacular that she has become the talk of the Churchill backstretch.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Eulia Bischoff got a late start training horses, but she is making up for lost time.

Bischoff, 76, saddled just two horses last weekend - Tea Basket and Our Sleep Robber. But both of them won, giving Bischoff 9 wins from 21 starters at the meeting, for a gaudy 43 percent success rate.

Bischoff had a creditable 6 wins from 44 starters at last season's abbreviated meeting, then she posted another 6 wins from 43 starters at the tough Emerald Downs meeting last summer. Nevertheless, she has never had the kind of success she is enjoying now.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It's not very often that someone shells out $50,000 to claim a horse in this neck of the woods, so it was a big surprise to many when Fred Kwan claimed Irish Pleasure for that amount in his second start of the year on June 8.

ALBANY, Calif. - How good is undefeated Lacie Girl?

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer may get a good indication Saturday when she competes in the $60,000-added Star Ball Handicap at Golden Gate Fields. The 1 1/16-mile race will be her first try around two turns and her stakes debut.

"We just have to try her long," Hollendorfer said.

Lacie Girl has won her three starts, all in six-furlong races. She has accomplished each with relative ease and has a solid one-mile work heading into Saturday's stakes against seven rivals.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Saturday's $125,000-added Red Hedeman Mile for New Mexico-bred 2-year-olds features two horses with three-race winning streaks. It was only a matter of time before they crossed paths.

Hasty Gus, trained by Joe Cordova, comes into the race after winning three straight at Sun Ray Park's recently concluded fall meet, including a small stakes in his latest start, on Nov. 15. Victor Escobar, the regular rider of Hasty Gus, will attempt to ration the gelding's speed Saturday in order to negotiate the two-turn mile.

PHOENIX - One race features a standout and the other is looking for someone to come out of the crowd.

The male and female divisions of the Arizona Breeders' Futurity, for statebred 2-year-olds, will be run Saturday at Turf Paradise. Each division carries a purse of $25,000 and will be run at six furlongs.

In the filly division, First Snowbound is the likely heavy favorite. That's because she has won five of seven starts, including three wins over male competition. She actually has finished first in six races, but was disqualified from her debut win here in May.