ANDERSON, Ind. - Senorita Ziggy is not your ordinary Indiana-bred. While her nine rivals in the $40,000-added Merrillville Stakes have made the bulk of their starts and enjoyed their greatest success at Hoosier Park, Senorita Ziggy will be making just her second career start here and first against statebreds. The Merrillville is for fillies and mares at six furlongs.

Due to Win, who has won two Louisiana Downs stakes in her last two starts, and Cocoa Creek, who is perfect in three starts at the meet, should make for a competitive renewal of Saturday's $30,000 Old South Handicap.

The 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares drew nine, including Euryanthe, who appears to be nearing a victory; Chula, a razor-sharp 3-year-old; and Kentucky shipper Elaine's Booboo.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - There was a time Beyond Brilliant was good enough to run with such horses as Squirtle Squirt, last year's champion sprinter.

While those days appear to have passed for the 4-year-old Beyond Brilliant, he still possesses the talent necessary to be scary in Saturday's $30,000 Caballo del Sol Handicap. The six-furlong race has lured a field of seven.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Breeders' Cup Mile must be approaching if a trainer named Canani has a turf miler worth following from California.

This year, Nick Canani, son of trainer Julio Canani, has the best prospect in the West with Night Patrol, the winner of the Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita last weekend.

Nick Canani, 28, has a tough act to follow. Julio Canani twice won the Oak Tree Mile and Breeders' Cup Mile in a year with the same horse. First with Silic in 1999 and then with Val Royal two years later.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Gary Stevens is used to springing into action when he hears "Riders, up." Now, you can add, "Lights, camera, action."

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Improving 3-year-old Leloup continued his progress last weekend with a stylish 3 3/4-length win in a $50,000 optional claiming race at Hastings Park.

It was his third straight win and his first time going a middle distance. He looks like a horse with a bright future but local fans won't get to see him until next year, if at all. Leloup is owned and trained by Peter Stephen and is to be shipped to Sunland Park in New Mexico.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park on Thursday announced its intention to add slot machine gambling to its current menu of live racing, simulcasting, and card club wagering. A constitutional amendment or legislation is needed to allow slot machines at Canterbury.

Canterbury's proposed "Racino" includes the development of its existing 367-acre property into a multipurpose gambling and entertainment facility that would include slot machine and video gambling, an Olympic-styled equestrian park, an agricultural exposition facility, and a hotel and conference center.

The Board of Trustees of the New York Racing Association on Wednesday approved a schedule of 261 racing days for 2003 that includes a one-week extension of the Belmont fall meet.

Belmont's fall meet, which has been run at 5 1/2 weeks since 1996, will be extended to 6 1/2 weeks, or 38 days, in 2003. The meet will run from Sept. 5 through Oct. 26.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Freeze Alert shipped in from Delaware Park and captured a $10,000 starter allowance race at Fort Erie on Tuesday.

Freeze Alert, a 5-year-old horse, ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.63, the second-fastest time for the distance at the meet. It was a great homecoming for Freeze Alert's trainer, Deborah Simpson, who left Fort Erie seven years ago to take a break from a training career filled with highs and lows.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Mike Keogh will have plenty to ponder in the next couple of weeks, with Wando preparing to invade Arlington Park for the Oct. 26 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Mobil looking to hold the fort at Woodbine in Saturday's Cup and Saucer.

Wando, who suffered a severe cut on his right hind leg when he won the Grey here last Sunday, went back to the track for the first time Thursday morning.

"We took him out and jogged him a mile and a half," said Keogh. "The incision looks good, but he'll still be on antibiotics for a few days."