LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The theory that the sport of horse racing tapers off badly after the Breeders' Cup could take a major hit Saturday when a deep and competitive field of fillies and mares clashes in the 17th running of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Distaff.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Horse owner Aaron Jones was never more delighted to be wrong as he was following Wednesday's $73,450 Bien Bien Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Jones was reluctant to run Music's Storm in the one-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds, but consented to the plan at the insistence of trainer Eduardo Inda.

"I thought we were a little over our heads today," Jones said. "The trainer didn't think so and he was right." Music's Storm [$50.80] rallied wide through the stretch and outfinished Golden Arrow to win his first stakes in the Bien Bien.

The creation of the Sunshine Millions, a race series featuring California-breds against Florida-breds, is the most significant change to the stakes schedule at the 2002-2003 Santa Anita winter meeting. The meeting runs from Dec. 26 to April 20.

The eight-race Sunshine Millions features four races at both Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita on Jan. 25. Santa Anita will host the Distaff, Turf, Sprint, and Oaks, worth a combined $1.75 million.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - There's never a guarantee that a horse is going to win a particular race, but if Buckeye Bates runs the way he normally does, they won't beat him in Saturday's seventh race at Hastings Park, a $15,000 optional sprint for older horses.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Speed, speed, and more speed.

That's what probable favorites Cigi, Perky Pirate, and Longstone bring to Saturday's featured 10th race at Portland Meadows, a six-furlong race for $8,000 non-winners of two that has drawn a field of eight.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Babae is certainly a deserving favorite in Saturday's $100,000 Athenia Handicap at Aqueduct, but the depth of the field makes it tempting to try to find a price in the Grade 3 race for fillies and mares on turf.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - From front-runners to stalkers to closers, trainer Bobby Frankel has it covered in Saturday's $125,000 Matiara Stakes at Hollywood Park.

Frankel has three of the 10 3-year-old fillies entered in the turf race to be run at 1 1/8 miles. All of his starters are stakes winners. The front-running Nunatall won the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga in July. Kithira, who can stalk the pace or lead, won a division of the Ramser Handicap at Santa Anita last month. However, neither are as talented as the late-running Megahertz.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - John McKee, the 21-year-old apprentice jockey who has won two riding titles this year, plans to begin riding at Aqueduct in New York after the Churchill Downs meet ends Nov. 30.

McKee's agent, Eddie Campbell, said Thursday that McKee will begin riding at Aqueduct on Dec. 4. Campbell said McKee, who loses his five-pound apprentice allowance in May, may ride opening day of the Turfway holiday meet, Dec. 1, before moving to Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Bonapaw, winner of the Grade 1 Vosburgh at Belmont Park, has returned to New York, where he will contest the Grade 1, $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 30.

Bonapaw, a gelding, is coming off a 10th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Arlington Park. Trainer Norman Miller brought him to New York on Oct. 31, and he has been galloping over Belmont's main track for the last several days. Miller plans to send Bonapaw to Aqueduct on Nov. 16 and breeze him five furlongs on the 18th.

For most of the season, Scott Lake has been chasing Steve Asmussen in the national race for most wins by a trainer. Playing catch-up became all the more difficult when Lake had to serve a pair of 10-day suspensions in June.

Now, with less than two months remaining, Lake has finally overtaken Asmussen in his quest to finish as the country's winningest trainer for the third straight year.