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.

NEW ORLEANS - In the heyday of the 1990's, races at Fair Grounds used to fill themselves. By 11 a.m., the entry box would bulge, a day's races would be drawn - at lunchtime.

Not last year. At times, Fair Grounds racing officials struggled to cobble together bettable programs. Field size was down, and with it handle. This year, the track feels some urgency to make more out of the available horse population, and with that in mind there have been serious changes in the racing office.

The fields for the six races that will make up the inaugural running of the Great State Challenge at Sam Houston Race Park Dec. 7 are taking shape, with horsemen starting to respond to invitations that were sent out Monday.

The final draw for the card, which matches statebreds from 11 states, will be Dec. 4. Each race is worth up to $275,000.

Take Charge Lady, set to run Thursday at Churchill Downs in the Falls City, is expected to run in the Distaff. Top horses considered definite for the Distaff are Two Item Limit and With Ability.