EDMONTON, Alberta - Saturday is getaway day at Northlands, as the 68-day meet comes to a close. That makes it an appropriate time to reflect on the high spots of the season and on who will win Alberta's divisional titles.

Some categories would appear to be automatic, such as Sixthirtyjoe as champion older horse on the strength of his five stakes victories at distances from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. Sixthirtyjoe won the Sprint Championship and the Teeworth Plate at Stampede and the Journal, Spangled Jimmy, and Klondike here.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Jim Chapman is convinced that Red Apache is happiest when he finds himself in a battle.

"He loves to fight and he loves having horses around him," Chapman said. "He doesn't work unless he's with other horses."

The style worked in a six-furlong allowance race on Oct. 2, which Red Apache won by a head after dueling for the lead throughout. It will be put to a full test when he starts against nine others in Saturday's $75,000 Sunny Slope Stakes for 2-year-olds over six furlongs at Santa Anita.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The California Horse Racing Board ratified a racing calendar for 2003 at a monthly meeting on Thursday, making only minor revisions from the 2002 schedule.

The racing calender in California begins the day after Christmas with the start of the winter-spring meetings at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields. Thursday, dates were issued up to Christmastime 2003.

"It's essentially the same calender as last year," said CHRB spokesman Mike Marten.

OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma Racing Commission and Magna Entertainment, which operates Remington Park, reached a compromise agreement Thursday on what dates the track will race in 2003. Magna and the commission had been at odds over the 2003 schedule at the track since Magna had asked to drop its Quarter Horse meet last month.

The racing world is changing for the Miller family of Cochranville, Pa.

Of course, patriarch Bruce Miller remains a steeplechase trainer, but his son Chip has assumed the role of trainer as well as jockey.

Daughter Blythe faces an uncertain racing future. She suffered a concussion in a spill at Saratoga and may not ride in races again. Plus, she recently became engaged.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - With a chilly west wind blowing down an occasional flake of snow Thursday morning, Arlington Park moved into the final stage of its Breeders' Cup odyssey. While there were only a couple of major works, the number of Breeders' Cup horses on the grounds is increasing daily, and several were out on the racetrack for the first time Thursday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - American Justice hasn't won a race this year, but he shouldn't be taken lightly when he runs in the $100,000 Premier's Stakes at Hastings on Sunday.

He's perfectly suited for the 11-furlong distance and the last time he ran in the Premier's he won as the 7-2 favorite in 2000. He also finished a fast-closing second in the Premier's as a 3-year-old in 1999.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will begin its second season under the management of the Magna Entertainment Corporation on Saturday with a 10-race program topped by the $10,000 Inaugural Handicap. The Inaugural, at six-furlongs for 3-year-olds and up, has lured an extremely competitive field of 11.

He played heartthrob Keith Partridge on the early 1970's television show "The Partridge Family" and is now a successful recording artist with a busy concert schedule, but entertaining isn't the only thing David Cassidy is passionate about.

Cassidy is a breeder and owner, and one of his horses, Lady D'Jour, will run in Saturday's $150,000 Ticonderoga Handicap, one of seven New York-bred stakes at Belmont Park on New York Showcase Day. Lady D'Jour, a horse Cassidy bought for $8,000, has earned more than $100,000.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Jockey Jim McAleney has been on a tremendous roll at Woodbine. He won three consecutive races last Saturday, and took the $250,000 Princess Elizabeth last Sunday aboard Kabeeb.

On Saturday, McAleney will be aboard Steady Ruckus, the likely favorite in the $140,125 Bunty Lawless Stakes, a one-mile race for Ontario-sired runners.