INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The only time Puxa Saco was beaten was in her lone try around two turns. Other than that, she is perfect in three sprints. Further, she has shown an ability to adapt to different surfaces, a trend trainer Jenine Sahadi hopes continues when Puxa Saco runs in Saturday's $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Our Lucky Kiss, fresh off a strong second against males in the Nov. 2 OTBA Sales Stakes, is the one to beat in Saturday's $14,980 Janet Wineberg Stakes for Oregon-bred 2-year-old fillies.

Our Lucky Kiss, a daughter of Swiss Yodeler who races for Howard Seigel, will face only five rivals, including a stable coupling, in the six-furlong Janet Wineberg.

Our Lucky Kiss made her first 10 starts in California, culminating in a maiden victory over $12,500 company at Fresno

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Smugglers Cove has won 21 races from 54 starts and eight of her last nine. She will likely be a solid favorite in the sixth race Saturday, an allowance race for fillies and mares who haven't won a stakes worth $20,000 or more this year.

The distance of the race is 1 1/16 miles, and therein lies the problem for chalk players. Although Smugglers Cove has an enviable record, she has never won a race longer than 6 1/2 furlongs and has tried going this far only twice in her career.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A potential Kentucky Derby prospect, Gigawatt, runs at Woodbine Saturday in the 1 1/16-mile Display Stakes for 2-year-olds.

Gigawatt, a handsome Wild Again colt, graduated by 17 lengths in his second start. Trainer Mark Casse didn't hesitate to run him back in the Grade 2 Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes on Oct. 6.

Gigawatt tracked the pace under Patrick Husbands in the 1 1/16-mile Grey, and seemed headed for victory at the top of the stretch, but favored Wando blew by him at the eighth pole, and went on to win by nearly three lengths.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - John Kimmel is getting ready to send the bulk of his barn to Florida for the winter. The next few weeks will give him an idea of just how much he has to look forward to in 2003.

Kimmel has several 2-year-old prospects he believes could be top-flight 3-year-olds. One of those is Silver Squire, who will be first or second choice in Sunday's $75,000 Huntington Stakes at Aqueduct.

Although six out-of-towners have been lured to Mountaineer Park by the $100,000 purse up for grabs in Saturday night's ninth running of the Mountaineer Mile Handicap, they really aren't strangers.

Four of the shippers in Saturday's field of eight older horses have had one previous race over the main track at the Chester, WVa., oval. And three of those returned home winners, an indication that when trainers travel in quest of the slot revenue-enhanced purses at Mountaineer, they mean business.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Dean Butler was taken off all mounts Wednesday after agreeing to a request by the Churchill Downs stewards to submit to a drug-screening test. Bernie Hettel, the track's chief steward, said the request came after Butler was questioned by local police about possible illegal possession of prescription drugs. Butler was represented by counsel at a stewards' meeting Thursday at Churchill.

Results of the test were due back Friday. In the meantime, Butler, 31, was allowed to continue riding.

The dates Remington Park in Oklahoma City will race in 2003 were amended Thursday by the Oklahoma Racing Commission, which adopted a new proposal from the track. The new schedule increases the total number of race dates at Remington next year from 70 to 82 and has support of the state's major horsemen's groups.

The Arizona Racing Commission voted on Wednesday to renew the racing license of Jerry Simms, owner of Turf Paradise, restoring his control over the track.

The commission, which voted 3-2 to renew the license, overturned a ruling by the Arizona Department of Racing last year that denied Simms a racing license because of his involvement in a California real estate scandal in the early 1990's.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Medaglia d'Oro's year may not be done yet, and may take an intriguing turn. The recent runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Classic could make his first start on turf in the Grade 1, $500,000 Hollywood Derby on Dec. 1, his trainer, Bobby Frankel, said Thursday.

"There's a little chance I'll run him in the Hollywood Derby," Frankel said. "I might try him on the grass."