AUBURN, Wash. - A creative handicapper could build a case for any of the eight entrants for Thursday's Emerald Downs feature, a six-furlong race for older $8,000 claimers, and that makes it an intriguing betting proposition.

Of course, some cases are easier to build than others. Everyone will recognize Capable of Passion as a strong contender, because he is coming off a sharp win over $10,000 company at 5 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 16. Capable of Passion has demonstrated an ability to string good races together, having won four in a row here at last year's meeting.

The just-completed 36-day meeting at Saratoga Race Course had average daily all-sources handle of $16.3 million, breaking the North American record for average daily handle, which was set at Saratoga last year.

Total handle was $587.3 million, compared with $561.5 million last year, an increase of 4.6 percent. Ontrack handle fell 1 percent to $115.4 million, an average of $3.21 million per card, however, and attendance fell 1 percent to 999,388, an average of 27,660.

Saratoga closed after an 11-race card on Monday. The track hosted 36 racing days last year as well.

Ontrack attendance was up slightly while all-sources and ontrack handle were down slightly at the 41-day Ellis Park meet, which ended Monday.

Daily average attendance of 3,017 was up 3.1 percent compared to 2001 figures. Ontrack handle averaged $388,689, down 2.1 percent, while average all-sources handle of $2,948,746 was down 3.6 percent. Purses averaged $192,271 per card, up 2 percent from last year.

Significant declines in business at Monmouth Park this year have generated controversy once again over the number of Thoroughbred racing dates in the state, an issue that has bitterly divided horsemen and Monmouth's management in the past.

Monmouth Park closed its 78-day meet on Sunday with a 10-percent drop in all-sources handle, to $3.45 million, and an 8 percent drop in ontrack attendance, from 10,658 to 9,838. Betting on Monmouth's races by ontrack horseplayers plummeted 16 percent, track officials said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Godolphin Racing, which on Tuesday announced the retirement of Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry because of an injury, will be looking for happier times this weekend at Belmont Park.

Godolphin will be represented with starters in each of the three Grade 1 races to be run on Saturday, opening weekend of the Belmont fall meet. In the $500,000 Woodward, Godolphin will start Express Tour. Imperial Gesture is Godolphin's starter for the $250,000 Gazelle, and Tobougg will run in the $500,000 Man o' War.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Only one member of the cast for Thursday's feature at Bay Meadows comes off a race at this track.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Bob Baffert was metaphorically mixing porridge for Congaree on a foggy Tuesday morning at Del Mar. The Breeders' Cup Classic was too long. The Breeders' Cup Sprint was too short. But the Breeders' Cup Mile was just right.

And that is why Congaree, who won Monday's Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap, will switch to the turf for at least his next start, in the Oak Tree Breeders' Cup Mile on Oct. 5 at Santa Anita. If Congaree, a son of Arazi, makes a successful transition, he will become a major player for the Mile.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Good Journey and Royal Spy, who checked into Woodbine last week to prepare for Sunday's $1 million Atto Mile, had their first feel of the E.P. Taylor turf course Tuesday morning.

Patrick Husbands, Woodbine's leading rider, worked both horses and will ride Royal Spy in the Atto Mile, a Grade 1 turf race for 3-year-olds and up.

Good Journey, trained by Wally Dollase in California, breezed five furlongs in 1:04.20. Royal Spy, based in Kentucky with Tom Amoss, breezed four furlongs in 49.60 seconds.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - A number of leading trainers at Louisiana Downs believe Harrah's Entertainment, which last week signed a letter of intent to purchase controlling interest in the track, has the kind of financial clout necessary to bring Louisiana Downs back to the good times it experienced in the 1980's.

"I feel as though we've got a major player taking over the ownership here," said trainer Larry Robideaux Jr.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Page through the races a second time, and you still will not find a true feature on Arlington's Thursday program.

There hardly is a horse surplus in any part of the country, and a six-day racing week ending Labor Day tapped the local horse population more than a typical Chicago racing week. A high-level turf optional claimer that would have been the feature failed to fill, leaving first-level statebred allowance horses as the day's highlight.