VANCOUVER, British Columbia - American Justice hasn't won a race since capturing the Grade 3 Premiers here in October 2000. That shouldn't stop local fans from making him a solid choice over 10 other older horses Sunday in the 1 1/16-mile Lions Gate allowance, a race for 3-year-olds and up who haven't won a stakes in 2002.

American Justice missed all of 2001 with a bowed tendon, but he appeared as good as ever in his second start this year, when he came from 15 lengths behind to finish second by a head to Work Visa in an allowance race Aug. 18.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Eight Oregon-bred 2-year-olds with a combined total of seven starts will contest Sunday's $12,920 Bill Wineberg Stakes at Portland Meadows. The inexperience of those in the field makes the six-furlong stakes a perilous but potentially rewarding betting proposition.

Hoosier Park's leading rider, Lester Knight, won four races on Thursday's 11-race card, boosting his lead to 72-53 over defending champ Terry Thompson. Knight picked up consecutive wins in the second through fourth races aboard Skip's Singer ($13.40), Kenok ($7.40), and Fit to Be a Gent ($32.40), then took the ninth on Picture This Tux ($13).

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Chris's Bad Boy, claimed for $13,000 on July 7, picked up three titles at Fort Erie's season-ending awards dinner Thursday night.

Honored as the track's horse of the year, Chris's Bad Boy, a 5-year-old gelding, was also chosen as the track's top male sprinter and best claim. Owned in partnership by trainer Lou Capi and Fabian Skyers, Chris's Bad Boy won six of his 10 starts here in 2002.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Starting for the first time since a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby as the co-second choice, Saarland made a successful return in Friday's sixth race at Aqueduct.

Saarland, who had a chip in his left front ankle surgically removed soon after the Derby, was to have returned to the races sooner, but he developed a problem with a hind foot at Saratoga that delayed his training.

ALBANY, Calif. - Sunny Ho's dream came true Thursday at Golden Gate Fields when the 40-year-old jockey from Hong Kong won the fifth race with $121.20 upsetter Peters Punkin.

Ho had won only one other race in his career - in 1983 in Hong Kong, where he had only

13 mounts as a jockey.

"I had to have a chance to come to America before I could become a jockey," he said after his victory. "In Hong Kong, if you haven't won

10 races by the time you're 23, you can't be a jockey."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Tizbud might have disappointed in his first two starts, but the promise at which he had hinted in his training was on full display Thursday at Hollywood Park, when he scored an overpowering maiden victory that had trainer John Sadler looking forward to the upcoming months.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It hasn't much mattered what Carl Nafzger has sent out to run at the Churchill Downs fall meet, which began three Sundays ago. Maiden races, allowances, stakes - the only important thing is that Nafzger is listed as trainer.

With 10 wins from 20 starts, Nafzger is on a streak of the hottest kind. A former rodeo cowboy, Nafzger has been training Thoroughbreds for nearly 35 years, but he is hard-pressed to remember being on a roll quite like this.

GROVE CITY, Ohio - Mercer's Cool Cat heads a field of seven Ohio-bred 2-year-olds in Sunday's $40,000 Ohio Freshman Stakes at Beulah Park.

Mercer's Cool Cat is one of only two stakes-placed starters in the 1 1/16-mile Freshman by virtue of back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Hoover Stakes at River Downs and the Loyalty at Thistledown in August.

In his most recent start, Mercer's Cool Cat won his maiden here at 1-5 over statebred maiden special weight company on Oct. 27. Mercer's Cool Cat won the six-furlong race by 3 3/4 lengths for owner-trainer Dennis Mammen.

If the mare Princess Jen could read, she would love how Sunday's $30,000 Lady's Secret at Remington Park sets up for her on paper.

Many of her 11 rivals want the early lead in the seven-furlong race for fillies and mares, and if they duel early, it will benefit Princess Jen's closing style.

"You always want all the speed you can have," said Ronnie Campisano, who trains Princess Jen.