MIAMI - Trainer Graham Motion, who had a big winter at Gulfstream Park earlier this year, is back in town for another season and will waste little time getting into action. He sends out Newsbreak as one of the favorites in Saturday's $100,000 Mecke Stakes. The Mecke will share top billing on Saturday's program with its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Hollywood Wildcat. Both races will be run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

Closing weekend for the Quarter Horse meet at Lone Star Park is highlighted Saturday by the Grade 1, $1,061,703 Texas Classic Futurity, the richest race in Texas history. West Texas Futurity winner Eye Opening Episode is one of seven graded stakes winners in the race.

ANDERSON, Ind. - Two-year-old Indiana-breds will be featured in the last four stakes of the Hoosier Park meet here Friday and Saturday night.

Friday night's two stakes are the six-furlong filly division of the Indiana Stallion Stakes and the Terre Haute, for fillies at a mile. Statebred colts and geldings are up Saturday in the six-furlong Indiana Stallion Stakes and the one-mile South Bend. The 70-day meet closes Sunday evening.

The top two finishers from the Miss Indiana Stakes, Indy Fire and Miss Dakota, will knock heads once again in the $30,000 Terre Haute.

Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla., has extended its mixed meet, which was to close Sunday. The track will race on Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 22.

For next year, Blue Ribbon has picked up four Quarter Horse stakes previously held at Remington Park. The move was made because Remington's 2003 Quarter Horse meet has been moved from the its traditional spring dates to the summer.

Blue Ribbon will hold the Grade 1, $500,000 Heritage Place Futurity, and the Grade 1, $200,000 Heritage Place Derby on May 4, 2003, and the Grade 2 Lazy E Futurity and Derby on April 5.

Sunland Park's racing has steadily improved since the introduction of slot machines in 1999, and the rise in quality has translated into wider distribution of its simulcast signal and increased ontrack business.

Sunland's ontrack opening week average daily handle of $92,535 was up 13 percent from last year's $81,610.

NEW ORLEANS - The warm, sunny mornings last weekend at Fair Grounds were wonderfully tranquil - and that was troubling.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Thanksgiving Day has always been a lot like any other day for Steve Flint.

"We've always run a bunch of horses that day," said Flint.

Of course, turkey and the trimmings always follow, but as on previous Thanksgivings, Flint will focus on racing again Thursday. That's entirely understandable, because the 42-year-old trainer will send out his stable star, Allamerican Bertie, as one of the top contenders in the Grade 2, $250,000, Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Because Lido Palace was bred in Chile and would require a steep supplementary fee to compete in the Breeders' Cup, the connections of the 5-year-old horse have chosen to bypass the last two runnings of the BC Classic.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Locally based Kimberlite Pipe, the winner of Hawthorne's R.F. Carey Memorial in his last start, is on his way to Hollywood Park for Saturday's $500,000 Citation Handicap.

A 6-year-old owned by Prairie Star Racing and John Gunther, Kimberlite Pipe came to current trainer Mike Wright Jr. in the spring of 2001 and went on to win three top-level allowances and to place in two stakes at the meeting.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Two years ago, Richard Dutrow Jr. felt he had the horse to beat in the Fall Highweight Handicap in Late Carson. The bettors who made Late Carson the even-money favorite headed home disappointed when the horse finished fifth.

Thursday, Dutrow will saddle Well Fancied, whom he firmly believes is the right one in the $100,000 Fall Highweight, the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature at Aqueduct. First post for the nine-race card is 11 a.m. with last post at 2:37 p.m.