LOUISVILLE, Ky. - People keep coming up to Bob Holthus and congratulating him, and not because he turned 68 on Monday. It was 50 years ago this week that Holthus took out a trainer's license in his native Nebraska, and more than 2,500 winners later, the combination of his longevity and success are the subject of considerable admiration among his many friends, fans, and colleagues.

"You had to be 18 to get a trainer's license in Nebraska then," said Holthus. "I got it a couple days after I turned 18."

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Mizzen Mast won both the Malibu Stakes and Strub Stakes during Santa Anita's meeting to emerge as one of the leading older horses in the country. He has been absent for more than four months, but he is nearing a return.

Bobby Frankel, who trains Mizzen Mast, said he is pointing the colt to Del Mar's Pacific Classic on Aug. 25, a race Frankel has won six times. He envisions Mizzen Mast having one prep race, in the San Diego Handicap on Aug. 4.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Trainer Shug McGaughey has won the Molly Pitcher Handicap four times in the last 14 years, more than any other trainer in the race's storied 56-year history. McGaughey has come through Monmouth Park to win the stakes with Hall of Famer Personal Ensign, champion mare Inside Information, Versailles Treaty, and Rare Blend.

Assistant trainer Buzz Tenney, who has been with the stable since 1985, says Atelier compares favorably with Versailles Treaty, who won the Alabama and twice was second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, and Rare Blend.

AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs bettors have been remarkably sharp all meet, sending off more than 37 percent winning favorites coming into last week's racing. They were never sharper than for Sunday's $45,000 Seattle Slew Stakes.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - John Ross couldn't hide his disappointment over Shaws Creek's sixth-place finish in last Sunday's Queen's Plate.

, owned by the Jam-Jar Racing Stable of Bud and Jackie Reynolds, was highly regarded off his score in the Plate Trial but never got into the hunt for jockey Jake Barton after breaking from the outside post in the field of 13.

"I'm getting tired of winning all the battles but never winning the wars," said Ross, who trained Catahoula Parish when he captured the 1999 Trial and finished seventh in the Plate for the Jam-Jar outfit.

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Northern California has been a hotbed for talented apprentice riders for the past seven months, with Kevin Krigger and Omar Figueroa both making big splashes before heading for Southern California.

But quietly, Francisco Duran, who won his first race aboard Nice Calves on Dec. 30, has begun to make a name for himself as well.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - From his victory on Friday in the NTRA All-Star Jockey Championship at Lone Star Park to the win with his final mount aboard Came Home in Sunday's Affirmed Handicap at Hollywood Park, Chris McCarron provided racing fans with a weekend of memorable moments.

McCarron, 47, retired with 7,141 winners, sixth on the all-time list, and mounts that earned a record $264,351,679.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - In the fairy-tale career of Chris McCarron, this was the comedy before the drama, the side-splitter before the tear-jerker, the feel-good set-up to the break-you-down finale.

This was the All-Star Jockey Championship, and it was a whole lot of fun. Less than 48 hours before McCarron retired to an emotional farewell at Hollywood Park, he emerged as the winner of the sixth annual All-Star event Friday night at Lone Star Park by riding Yoto Speakes to victory in the fourth and final race of the competition.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Tom Skiffington is still trying to determine over which surface and at what distance his Irish-bred 3-year-old Rapadash will flourish. He should find out more Wednesday when he saddles Rapadash in a very competitive second-level allowance race for 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Belmont Park.

Rapadash, who is 2 for 4 on dirt and 0 for 3 on turf, has run twice for Skiffington, winning an entry-level allowance race at Keeneland and finishing third in the Grade 3 Jersey Derby on turf at Monmouth Park.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dream Launcher, a beaten favorite last time out, will try to avenge that loss in Wednesday's Woodbine feature, an $80,000 allowance/optional claimer for 3-year-olds and up.

Dream Launcher, the lone stakes winner in the field, won the 1 1/8-mile Victoria Park here in June of last year. After finishing fifth in his turf debut in the Charlie Barley Handicap later that month, Dream Launcher was put away for the remainder of 2001 by owner/trainer Audre Cappuccitti after undergoing ankle surgery.