EDMONTON, Alberta - Although the final few weeks of the season offer little in the way of stakes at Northlands Park, October has been an interesting month. Jockeys Quincy Welch and Rickey Walcott have gone toe to toe in the battle for top honors at the meeting.

Heading into the final weekend at Northlands, the two are separated by just one victory, with Welch in the lead.

Welch won the title at the spring meet in Calgary by 10 wins. He is currently in position to take home top honors in Alberta again this year, duplicating the feat he accomplished in 2001.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The $75,000 Sunny Slope Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday will not be confused with a top-class race for 2-year-olds. Many of the circuit's top 2-year-olds are traveling to the Breeders' Cup at Arlington Park on Oct. 26, leaving the six-furlong Sunny Slope to lesser horses who are trying to develop into something.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Sligo Bay earned a vacation in June after he finished off the board for the third consecutive race.

"He got a little sour on me," trainer Beau Greely said.

The vacation ends on Friday when Sligo Bay starts in a $53,000 allowance race/optional claimer over 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita. The race could lead to a start in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup over 1 1/2 miles on Nov. 23.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - It's why they call it insurance. A stable coupling trained by Ken McPeek was pounded down to 2-5 in the fourth race Wednesday at Keeneland, clearly because one of the McPeek colts, Mustang Jock, had run so well in two previous starts and was being ridden by the ever popular Pat Day.

Trainer Jack Brooks will be busy, saddling four of the 10 finalists, including fastest qualifier Dashin Prince Henry, in the Grade 1, $152,700 Dash for Cash Derby on Friday night at Lone Star Park.

The other Brooks-trained qualifiers to the 440-yard derby are Friday 123, First Regards, and Fit to Fly.

Jockey Jacky Martin, who rode each of the four Brooks qualifiers in the Oct. 4 trials, will ride Dashin Prince Henry in the finals.

Dashin Prince Henry won his 440-yard trial by a neck in 21.630 seconds.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Jockey Ron Warren Jr. stands 5-foot-4, but he has gained stature in his neighborhood.

Warren was pictured in the Oct. 14 edition of Sports Illustrated along with 71 other athletes who will appear in a soon-to-be-published book, "Athlete," by photographer Howard Schatz.

"My wife's friends don't know much about racing, but this got them interested," Warren said of his photo. "My son's friends were really excited about it."

SELMA, Texas - In a few years, owner Richard Englander could have some competition from Mark Cornett atop the national standings. Cornett, who won three stakes during the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame program Saturday night at Retama Park, has spent the last year and a half building up a 90-horse stable, mostly via the claim box, and employs trainers from Louisiana to Ohio to West Virginia to Pennsylvania.

In three starts since early August, Tour the Hive had been asked to stretch his sprinter's speed around two turns with modest results. Switched back to his favorite distance of six furlongs Tuesday night, Tour the Hive ($16.80) responded with a two-length victory in the $77,700 Mountaineer Park HBPA Stakes.

The race was restricted to horses who had made at least three starts at Mountaineer this season. The fillies and mares division, also at six furlongs, will be contested next Tuesday.

ANDERSON, Ind. - Perfect Drift, three-quarter-length winner of the Indiana Derby on Oct. 5, was expected to be among the pre-entries for the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Should he start, he would become the second consecutive Indiana Derby winner to try his hand against older company in North America's richest race.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Heading into the final weekend of the Fairmount Park meet, Ralph Martinez, 24, has the training title sewed up for the third year in a row with 121 wins. Leroy Hellman is safely in second with 64 wins from only 228 starts. Hellman has had an odd meet. He got off to a horrible 1-for-31 start and has been winning at a 32 percent clip since then.