MUSKEGON, Mich. - The EQTAH company headed by Andy Stronach has requested 45 days of mixed-breed racing next year from the Michigan racing commission for a planned facility in Webberville, Mich., just east of Lansing. The meet would run from September through November and compete with Great Lakes Downs, which asked the commission for its regular dates from late April through late October.

Great Lakes Downs, owned by the Magna Entertainment Company of Frank Stronach, who is not involved with EQTAH, is the lone Thoroughbred-only track in the state.

Glitter Ghost and Confiding Winner head a field of nine 2-year-old fillies entered in Friday's $50,000 Prairie Meadows Debutante Stakes.

Glitter Ghost steps up into stakes company after scoring an impressive 8 1/2-length debut victory against maiden special weight company at Ellis Park on Aug. 3. A daughter of Glitterman, she led throughout en route to a brisk 1:10.78 clocking for the six furlongs under jockey Sidney LeJeune Jr.

High-percentage trainer Larry Jones trains Glitter Ghost for owners Fred and Nancy Mitchell, and LeJeune will be in for the mount.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Aidan O' Brien, who is blessed with a surfeit of top-class runners, has never started a horse at Woodbine. But that will change Sunday when Ballingarry, one of six O'Brien trainees nominated to the Canadian International, gets a chance to emerge from the shadow of his more illustrious stablemates - such as Rock of Gibraltar, High Chaparral, and Hawk Wing - in the Grade 1, $1.5 million feature.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Yes, handicappers, there will be pace in Saturday's $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup.

Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said Tuesday that provided no other speed horse enters the fray, he will start the front-running Abreeze in Saturday's Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park.

"If there's no speed and only five or six horses, we'll probably run," McLaughlin said. "There's rain in the forecast and he likes it sloppy."

Abreeze would be running back just two weeks after finishing fourth in the Kentucky Cup Classic Handicap at Turfway Park on Sept. 14.

CHICAGO - In a drawn-out Tuesday meeting in downtown Chicago, the Illinois Racing Board restored Chicago's traditional Thoroughbred schedule while keeping alive the National Jockey Club, which will race next year at Hawthorne Race Course rather than its historic home, Sportsman's Park.

Business was up in every category at the seven-day fall meet that ended Monday at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.

All-sources handle for the 44-race meet totaled $9,521,638, an increase of 2 percent over comparable 2001 figures and 17 percent over 2000. Ontrack wagering totaled $391,293, up 14 percent over 2001 and 3 percent over 2000. Attendance totaled 5,018.

The average field size was a track-record 10.4 horses per race.

This Guns For Hire, never off the board in eight lifetime starts, deserves a shot at the big time, according to his trainer, John Terranova, and he will get it Friday night in the Grade 2, $350,000 Pegasus Handicap at The Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

"It's just pretty much the next logical step for him," Terranova said. "He's just a nice horse, up-and-coming, and I think he's got a lot of talent."

MIAMI - Trainer Milt Wolfson has racked up the frequent flyer miles this summer traveling across the country with The Judge Sez Who, who has made his last four starts at Thistledown, Mountaineer Park, Remington Park, and Louisiana Downs. He may find himself adding to those mileage totals during the fall with his newest star, Super Frolic, who remained undefeated with an impressive 4 1/4-length victory at Calder on Saturday in the $100,000 Foolish Pleasure Stakes.

CHICAGO - In this case, the statistics do not lie. The 8-year-old gelding Reno Rumble has started 48 times in his career and won 13 times. And though only 19 of his races have come over the Arlington grass course, Reno Rumble has won over it 10 times. On paper, it seems Reno Rumble runs here like he runs nowhere else, a suspicion his trainer, Chris Block, can confirm.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Because of spiraling workers' compensation costs in California, Washington-based trainer Len Kasmerski faced a tougher decision than usual when deciding whether to ship 16 horses to Bay Meadows from his home base of Emerald Downs.

A lot of people at Emerald Downs, said Kasmerski, "are hesitant to go because of the costs."

But Kasmerski was committed to coming because his horses seem to fit well in the northern California program.