MIAMI - Trainer Richard Ciardullo's phone has been ringing off the hook ever since Super Fuse sensationally won his career debut here last Saturday. A 2-year-old gelding, Super Fuse earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure, second highest for a juvenile this year behind the 102 posted by Zavata winning the Tremont Stakes.

Ciardullo said he and owner C & T Stable have gotten offers to buy Super Fuse, but as of Friday they hadn't sold.

Ciardullo purchased Super Fuse, a son of Lite the Fuse, for $38,000 out of the Adena Springs dispersal sale in Ocala in April.

D. Wayne Lukas has a long list of former employees who have gone on to successful careers as trainers. Now Becky Maker is bidding to join that group.

Maker won the first race of her career when Atticus Finch captured the last race Wednesday at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. It was the 18th starter for Maker, who worked for Lukas for four years and for Dallas Stewart, a former Lukas assistant, for another four years.

"That was a long time coming," Maker said Friday from the Trackside training facility in Louisville, where she has 11 horses.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A case can be made that the best race With Anticipation has run in his career came in last year's Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap. The case can also be made that the 7-year-old gelding will have to duplicate that effort in order to become just the third repeat winner of Saratoga's Grade 1 turf fixture, run at 12 furlongs on the inner turf course.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pat Day is poised to pass Chris McCarron and become racing's all-time leading jockey in purse money won. Entering Friday's action at Saratoga, Day trailed McCarron by $114,891.

McCarron, who retired from race riding in July, earned $264,351,679. Day entered Friday's card with $264,236,788. Day had five mounts on Friday's card.

Day could very well break the record on Saturday, when he rides With Anticipation in the $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga and Pass Rush in Saturday night's $600,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park.

There are plenty of juicy spots for 3-year-old males who don't rank among the leaders of their division, and one such race is Saturday's $600,000 West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Race Track.

The rich pot has lured seven shippers, plus two local horses, to Mountaineer, which is in the small town of Chester, W. Va., for the 30th running of the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby.

Wiseman's Ferry is the likely favorite of the 1 1/8-mile race.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Reacting to strong business through the first two weeks of the meeting, Del Mar has raised overnight purses 5 percent, retroactive to the start of the meeting on July 24.

Strong ontrack business and the first year of advance deposit wagering, which allows betting through the telephone and internet, led to the purse increase.

Craig Fravel, Del Mar's executive vice-president, said the presence of seven days of racing after Labor Day prevented the track from going with a higher purse increase.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - The Meadowlands' 63-day meeting, which begins Sept. 2, will be highlighted by the Grade 2, $400,000 Meadowlands Cup on Oct. 4. A total of $1.5 million in purses will be offered over eight stakes races.

The Meadowlands meeting runs through Nov. 23. In a change from last year, The Meadowlands will race during the day Tuesdays, with first post 1:10 p.m. There also will be racing during the day on five Mondays (Sept. 2, Oct. 14, Nov. 4, Nov. 11, and Nov. 18) and on Thursday, Sept. 5. Post time is 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays through Saturdays.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - With a return trip to the Breeders' Cup Classic in the plans, Grade 1 winner Include will return to the races after a 2 1/2-month layoff next Sunday in the Grade 2, $350,000 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth, trainer Bud Delp said Thursday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Falcon Flight breezed to the satisfaction of trainer Donald Burke on Thursday at Del Mar and will be pre-entered Friday in the Arlington Million. Falcon Flight's inclusion brings the number of likely Million pre-entries to 13.

In his last start, Falcon Flight returned from a 10-month layoff and won the Arlington Handicap, only the second win of Burke's training career. The other came here last summer when Falcon Flight won the Stars and Stripes Handicap.

MIAMI - Calder's annual rite of summer, the $1.2 million Florida Stallion Series, starts on Saturday with the opening legs of the six-race series, the $75,000 Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen stakes. Both races will be decided at six furlongs.

The Dr. Fager drew a field of 10, led by the undefeated Trust N Luck who has won both his previous starts including an entry-level allowance race by three widening lengths.