It looks like Kenny Smith might have another good gray on his hands.

Known for training the gray millionaire Silver Goblin, Smith sent out a promising 2-year-old filly last Sunday in Mekko Hokte, who set a stakes record in the 6 1/2 furlong Delta Miss, going 1:17.99 while defeating stakes winner Hadif's Allstar.

"She really looks like a racehorse. She has it written all over her," said Smith, who trains the daughter of Holy Bull for William Lerblance Jr. "She's a beautiful filly, and she's got a lot of try."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - While last Sunday's Canadian International and E.P. Taylor Stakes will have little or no relevance in terms of the Sovereign Awards this year, one certain Canadian champion was on display earlier on the program.

Wake at Noon, a 5-year-old horse who finished third in the outstanding sprinter balloting last fall after being the runner-up the previous season, won his fourth stakes of 2002 in the Highlander Handicap and will be impossible to overlook this time around.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Junior Coffey has come south again for the winter.

Based in Washington, where he was an outstanding running back for the University of Washington before playing for Green Bay, Atlanta, and the New York Giants in the NFL, Coffey began coming to northern California more than 20 years ago to run when first Longacres and now Emerald Downs ended their meeting.

He sends out an improving 2-year-old filly, Best Practices, in Thursday's co-feature at Bay Meadows, a 5 1/2-furlong race for $25,000 claimers.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A daily ontrack average of $84,631 was handled at the 2002 Assiniboia Downs meeting, which concluded Sunday. That is a 4.8 percent increase over the corresponding 2001 figure of $80,764, Offtrack handle on live racing decreased from $54,378 per day in 2001 to $51,026, but the average total handle increased slightly from $135,142 in 2001 to $135,657.

Ontrack attendance was down slightly in 2002, from an average of 1,951 patrons per day in 2001 to 1,904 this year.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When Azeri last started at Santa Anita in March, she won her first stakes in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap.

Six months later, Azeri returns to Santa Anita for Wednesday's $200,000 Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap as the holder of a five-stakes winning streak that has given her the status of top older female in the United States.

POMONA, Calif. - Weekend horseplayers wagered $17 million on Fairplex Park races Saturday and Sunday, providing a fitting conclusion to the once-uncertain future of the Los Angeles County Fair race meet.

The 17-day fair meet, which at one point last year appeared headed for a change in venue to either Santa Anita or Hollywood Park, instead will remain at Fairplex. How long? That is up to the California racing industry, according to Jim Henwood, president and chief executive officer of the L.A. County Fair.

Prairie Meadows recorded record daily handle during its 45-day mixed meet, which ended Saturday night.

The average all-sources daily handle for the meet was $580,430, up 60 percent from last year's $362,291. The record handle follows two years of decline after Prairie Meadows had recorded average handle of $553,000 in 1999. Ontrack handle of $62,136 per day was up 4 percent from last year's corresponding meet.

Keeneland Racecourse plans to expand the territory of its so-called mobile mutuel clerks at its upcoming October meet in response to good reviews of the experimental program earlier this year.

The mobile clerks will carry wireless handheld machines, similar to those in use at many car rental agencies, that can print tickets and cash wagers. The clerks will cover nearly every area of the track during the October meeting, scheduled for Oct. 4-26, according to Jim Williams, a spokesman for the track.

Jockey Weldon Cloninger Jr. is expected to miss the remainder of the Retama Park meet after fracturing his leg in two places in a starting gate accident Saturday night. Cloninger was named to ride three horses Wednesday night at the San Antonio-area track, which is in the middle of a Thoroughbred meet that runs through Oct. 26.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Until the contract is signed and the check clears on the pending sale of Squirtle Squirt to Japanese interests, Bobby Frankel is training the defending sprint champion with the intent to race.