EDMONTON, Alberta - Last weekend, the top 2-year-old colts in Alberta took to the track here at Northlands Park in the Edmonton Juvenile, and Taiaslew easily handled the field as the 2-5 favorite.

The situation appears to be much the same this week when the top 2-year-old fillies compete in Friday's $40,000 Princess Margaret at a distance of six furlongs and Raylene can be expected to be the prohibitive choice.

Raylene won her maiden in her last start here and defeated Judge Ruckus, who finished second to Taiaslew last week.

AUBURN, Wash. - If Not Why Not, a wire-to-wire winner of the 1 1/8-mile leg of the Harley H. Hoppe and Associates Marathon Championship Series on July 19, attempts to stretch his speed another furlong when he takes on eight challengers in Friday's second installment of the three-race series at Emerald Downs.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Six times in the last seven years, trainer John Sadler has left Del Mar with at least one stakes win.

On Sunday, he can stretch that for another season when Palmeiro starts in the $250,000 San Diego Handicap, one of the meeting's top races for older horses.

Six months ago, it would have seemed unlikely that Palmeiro would be a stakes contender at Del Mar, following an eighth-place finish in the Strub Stakes at Santa Anita.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - What do Spectacular Bid, Black Tie Affair, and a 3-year-old colt named Fighting Indians have in common? A guy named Charlie Bettis.

Bettis worked with trainer Bud Delp for 14 years and was Spectacular Bid's groom during his 3-year-old and 4-year-old seasons. He was an assistant to trainer Ernie Poulos when Black Tie Affair tore through the Midwest handicap division and won the Breeders' Cup Classic, traveling from track to track with the horse.

SANTA ROSA, Calif. - One thing seems sure about Friday's $40,000-added James F. Lyttle Memorial Handicap at the Sonoma County Fair: At some point Federal Highway and Rio's Chase are likely to hook up well in front of the other four runners.

Federal Highway, who drew post 5, comes off a rapid wire-to-wire victory July 1 at Pleasanton. He will make his stakes and route debut in Friday's 1 1/16-mile race.

Rio's Chase also comes off a wire-to-wire victory, in the July 3 Pleasanton Handicap at Friday's distance. He breaks from the post 6.

Retama Park near San Antonio will be home to some of the top Texas-breds in training during its eighth season of racing, which opens Friday night with two of the state's best older horses, Lights on Broadway and Boots on Sunday, taking on open company in the $30,000 J.R. Straus Memorial Stakes.

The 51-night season runs through Oct. 26.

In many ways, the Retama meet is a celebration of everything Texas. That point will be driven home Oct. 12, when the track inducts six new members into its Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Boots on Sunday goes for a repeat win Friday night in the $30,000 J.R. Straus Memorial, a six-furlong stakes for older horses that ushers in the eighth season of racing at Retama Park near San Antonio.

The race drew nine others, including stakes winners Lights on Broadway, Two Punch Sonny, and Front Nine.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - When Harvey Vanier takes a young horse to Florida with him in the winter, especially an Illinois-bred that could stay with Vanier's Chicago string and run for statebred purses, it's more than whimsy. It means Vanier has hopes for the horse, and indeed, there were expectations for Mucho Rapido this year.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Mike Rowland won his 27th local riding title at the recently concluded Thistledown meet, when he won with 50 of his 245 mounts. Luis Gonzalez was second with 45 wins, and Lyndon Hannigan was third with 40.

Trainer Andy Konkoly notched his second meeting title, with 24 winners from 89 runners. Miguel Feliciano finished second, winning 22 of 87, followed by Rodney Faulkner, who sent of 20 winners from 105 horses.

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Jockey Terry Houghton won four races here Tuesday and has moved past Ramon Dominguez for the second spot in the national rider standings. Through Tuesday, Houghton had won 223 races this year and Dominguez 217. Russell Baze led all jockeys in wins with 233. Houghton also had a hat trick on Friday and Saturday.