EDMONTON, Alberta - Double stakes winner Dark Fuse heads a field of seven in Saturday's $40,000 Count Lathum as Northlands Park-based 3-year-olds have their final prep for the Aug. 24 Canadian Derby.

Dark Fuse was regarded as a sprinter when he won the six-furlong President's and the 6 1/2-furlong Western Canada but faltered in the 1 1/16-mile Alberta Derby to finish seventh, beaten nearly nine lengths.

But in his last start, here in the 1 1/16-mile Ky Alta, Dark Fuse surprised the skeptics when he was an impressive runner-up to Lord Shogun.

AUBURN, Wash. - Bub and Knightsbridge Road will renew their budding rivalry in Saturday's $45,000 colt and gelding division of the Northwest Stallion Stakes at Emerald Downs.

Only six 2-year-olds, including a stable coupling, entered the 6 1/2-furlong stakes, which is restricted to the progeny of stallions nominated in 1999. The half-dozen runners include the two most accomplished members of the division, however, and those two figure to put on a rousing show.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Shippers from the United States fared surprisingly poorly in stakes at Woodbine in 1999 and 2000. High-profile trainers like Bill Mott and Christophe Clement couldn't win at Woodbine during those years, but the tide began to turn in 2001, when American invaders began to hold their own.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Beat Hollow and Golden Apples will have new jockeys when they start in major turf stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 17, their respective trainers confirmed on Thursday.

Beat Hollow will be ridden by Jerry Bailey in the Arlington Million, trainer Bobby Frankel said. Bailey replaces Alex Solis, who rode Beat Hollow in two Grade 1 wins earlier this year - the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic and Manhattan Handicap - and to an unlucky second in the Eddie Read Handicap last Sunday.

Eight graded stakes that are preps to the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships at Arlington Park on Oct. 26 are part of the first week of the five-week Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting that runs from Oct. 2 to Nov. 3.

Among the eight stakes, the two preps for 2-year-olds have undergone changes in distance and purse. The Grade 2 Norfolk Stakes and the Grade 2 Oak Leaf Stakes have been cut in value from $250,000 to $200,000 and extended from a mile to 1 1/16 miles. They both were run at a mile from 1997 to 2001.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - J. P. Jet will be the clear favorite in the $50,000-added Minnesota Derby for statebred 3-year-olds Saturday at Canterbury Park. Also Saturday, statebred 3-year-old fillies will run in the $50,000-added Minnesota Oaks.

J. P. Jet dominated last year in the Northern Lights Futurity here. He looked just as impressive this year when he captured the Victor S. Myers Jr. Stakes in June by four lengths.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Few realize how hard trainer Brian Koriner had to work as he guided Hoovergetthekeys to victories in the Golden Gate and El Camino Real derbies last year.

The hard work has never stopped and may be paying off as Koriner prepares Hoovergetthekeys for Saturday's $100,000 Joseph T. Grace Handicap at the Sonoma County Fair.

Hoover getthekeys scored his first stakes victory as a 4-year-old in his last start in the Alamedan Handicap on July 7 at Pleasanton, rallying through the stretch and holding off late-finishing Takin It Deep by a nose.

Last Shall Be First, undefeated in three starts this year and coming off a win in the Grade 1, $136,000 Governor's Cup Derby, will attempt to continue her winning streak Saturday night at Los Alamitos in the trials to the Grade 1, $207,800 Golden State Derby.

The 10 fastest qualifiers from the two trials at 400 yards return for the finals on Aug. 17.

Last Shall Be First, second in the 2001 Governor's Cup Futurity, has moved into championship consideration this year with a win in the Dash for Speed Handicap to go with her Governor's Cup Derby victory.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Most of the trainers saddling horses in Sunday's Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park have been there and done that. Not so for Nancy Alberts, whose fresh entrance onto the national stage has come this year with Magic Weisner, the Preakness Stakes runner-up whom she bred, trains, and owns.

Horseplayers may want to pay attention to the six Ohio-bred 2-year-olds who will run in the $40,000 Hoover Stakes at River Downs on Saturday.

The notion that a good horse can come from anywhere was undercored by last year's Hoover. The winner, Harlan's Holiday, established himself as a top 3-year-old, winning the Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes, and was the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.

Also emerging from last year's Hoover was U S S Tinosa, who placed twice in graded stakes in California this spring and finished sixth in the Preakness.