EDMONTON, Alberta - The lean times in the local 3-year-old filly division may be in the past as a field of 10 entered Saturday's $40,000 Northlands Oaks at a mile.

Racing secretary Fred Hilts said he was encouraged by the response, since the 1 1/16-mile Penny Ridge attracted only five fillies on closing day at Calgary, and the 6 1/2-furlong Chariot Chaser had only four starters here July 1.

Despite the large field, the Penny Ridge winner, Sly Lady, and Fancy Prancer, who won the Mount Royal at Calgary and the Chariot Chaser, chose not to enter the Oaks.

VANCOUVER, B.C. - King Jeremy, Diglett, and Jazzy Yacht look like the ones to beat in Saturday's $35,000 Hong Kong Jockey Club at Hastings.

King Jeremy could have a slight edge over the other two contenders in the 1 1/16-mile race since there doesn't appear to be a lot of other speed, and he can be a pretty tough horse when he gets things his own way. On the other hand, Lady Vye should have a hot pace to close against in the supporting feature, the $35,000 Nanaimo Handicap for three-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.

AUBURN, Wash. - Lasting Code, who narrowly edged Premo Copy and Ashbecca in last month's Irish Day Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, will take on the same tough rivals at the same distance in Saturday's $40,000 Paragon Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at Emerald Downs.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - The $100,000 Rose DeBartolo Memorial Stakes, which tops the Ohio Derby undercard, matches Ohio-bred female champions Lady Cherie, last year's champion handicap mare, and Ashwood C C, the 3-year-old filly champion.

Lady Cherie, a 5-year-old owned by M.Y. Stables Inc., has been a model of consistency throughout her 26-race career, with a record of 14-5-2, and earnings of $426,900. She has won 2 of 3 starts this year, including the six-furlong Brents Princess Stakes here.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Wish It Were, one of the top 3-year-old fillies stabled at Monmouth, was scheduled to face her biggest career test in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga next Saturday. But trainer Tim Hills said Thursday she will skip the race after coming down with a lung infection after a workout Thursday morning.

Wish It Were, who won the $50,000 Dearly Precious Stakes June 30, worked a solid five furlongs in 1:01.40. But after being scoped, Wish It Were was found to have a mild lung infection.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Blackjack Boy was purchased for $130,000 at the Keeneland Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale last year by Dave Clark, and Clark put him back into the Ocala February 2-year-old in-training sale this year.

Fortunately for Clark and trainer Steve Morguelan, Blackjack Boy was not bought, because in three career starts he has already turned out to be a stakes winner. And Blackjack Boy, shipping in from Morguelan's Kentucky base, should be favored to win his second consecutive stakes in the $50,000 Tyro Stakes at Monmouth on Saturday.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - An accomplished field of grass runners square off in the $40,000 John Bullit Stakes at Canterbury Park. Three of the seven runners entered in the 1 1/16-mile turf contest are recent stakes winners.

Four on the Floor, campaigned by Minneapolis-based Robert Lothenbach, comes to Canterbury Park for trainer Pat Cuccurullo after capturing an allowance at Arlington and winning the Overage Stakes at Hawthorne in May.

Kamolia will have to hold off the powerful closing kicks of Royal Win and Glitzi's Classic to win the $50,000 Bossier City Handicap at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., on Saturday.

Kamolia brings strong company lines to the Bossier City Handicap, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3-year-olds that drew eight colts and geldings. In his last start, on May 27 at Lone Star Park near Dallas, he finished a close third to the Bob Baffert-trained Regiment in the $200,000 Diamond A USA Stakes.

Sky Terrace, winner of the Derby Trial at Churchill Downs this spring, is the likely favorite in Saturday's $60,000 Regaey Island Stakes at Ellis Park. The Regaey Island is for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

The Regaey Island, which replaces the Kentucky Colonel on the Ellis stakes calendar, honors a former Ellis Park president, Lester Yeager.

Regaey is Yeager spelled backward.

STANTON, Del. - For more than 30 years now, Susan Christiansen has worked countless hours as the manager of Derby Hill Farm in Mt. Airy, Md. Her job entails the kind of back-breaking, all-encompassing, seven-days-a-week work that so often goes unnoticed and unrewarded in the Thoroughbred industry.

"Anything that needs to be done, that's what I do," said Christiansen. "I enjoy working. I always have."