SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Several promising fillies entered in Sunday's $40,000 Canterbury Park Oaks look ready to score their first career stakes wins.

LINCOLN, Neb. - Sandpit Dancer stretches out to a mile in search of her third stakes win of the year when she faces seven rivals in Sunday's Matchmaker Handicap for Nebraska-bred mares.

A 6-year-old daughter of Miracle Heights, Sandpit Dancer scored her first win of the season in the Orphan Kist Handicap at Fonner Park in March. She most recently captured the Bluegrass Handicap here June 1 with a front-running performance for trainer Ron Ladd but will face a tough task in this spot. Alex Granda rides from post 2 under top weight of 120 pounds.

AUBURN, Wash. - The word on the Emerald Downs backstretch earlier this week was that "they" had "changed the track," which was cause for concern or hope among horsemen, depending upon how their horses had been performing over the existing surface.

But according to track superintendent Wayne Damron, the changes he and his crew made were minimal.

"We just added 480 100-pound bags of clay to the surface on Tuesday," he said. "That sounds like a lot, but it's only a dusting.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A win by Shelby Madison in the Liberation Stakes on Sunday at Hastings Park could provide a turning point in what has been a sad and disappointing year for Mark and Toni Jacobson Cloutier.

They lost their baby during childbirth this winter and also have had a difficult year professionally. Last year Toni finished 11th in the trainer standings with 17 wins from 74 starters and an excellent 23-percent win percentage. This year they have won a single race from 31 starts.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Several horses with ties to Lone Star Park will run during the upcoming Iowa Racing Festival at Prairie Meadows, a cluster of eight stakes to be held from July 3-6.

Steve Asmussen, second in the trainer standings here, on Friday said he plans to start the Churchill Downs-based Easyfromthegitgo in the $250,000 Iowa Derby on July 5. Easyfromthegitgo was a troubled fourth as the favorite last out in the Grade 3 Leonard Richards Stakes at Delaware Park.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A full field of nine 3-year-old fillies has been entered for Sunday's $30,000 Chantilly Stakes at six furlongs at Assiniboia.

Bitdaboss, the probable favorite, will be making her first start north of the border, having made her first eight appearances in Florida. Trained by Emile Corbel, Bitdaboss finished up the track in two stakes races at Tampa Bay Downs this winter.

Sassy Shonda will make her first start outside Alberta for trainer Tom Dodds. She has a first and second from three tries at Stampede Park this year.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - It took Sean Deveaux 27 mounts before he registered his first victory of the year, aboard Dobbie Joe in the third race here last Sunday.

His second win came on Tuesday, just six starts later.

Deveaux got the job done with Market Advance coming from behind to upset a tough group of sprinters at the $20,000 level. The $2 win payoff was $15.10.

Deveaux, 39, is back to where he began his riding career. In 1990, as an apprentice, he scored 47 wins at Fort Erie. That was good for fifth-place in the standings.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Just a shade less than two years ago, Allende finished fourth in the Queen's Plate.

But grass is strictly Allende's game these days, and Sunday he will be looking to take home some of the $335,700 up for grabs in the 1 1/8-mile King Edward Breeders' Cup.

Allende, a homebred owned by George Strawbridge Jr. and trained by Mac Benson, had his best campaign at 4, becoming a stakes winner in the $273,500 Hong Kong Jockey Club Trophy and earning $251,532 on the season.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - If it is possible to run a monster race while finishing third, well, that's exactly what Congaree did the last time he raced at Churchill Downs. The colt was passed in the stretch run of the 2001 Kentucky Derby by Monarchos and Invisible Ink, but only after earning the admiration of many handicappers by emerging as the lone survivor of a punishing pace.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The effort stands out like a sore thumb when compared to the rest of his fair-to-good past performances. On March 3, Parade Leader fairly jumped out of his bridle to win the $500,000 New Orleans Handicap by 5 1/4 lengths, a race that continues to remind trainer Neil Howard of the horse's capabilities.

"I don't think that was an isolated incident," said Howard.