INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The stakes drought at the Richard Mandella stable has entered its third month.

Mandella has not won a stakes since the weekend of April 6-7, when he won three stakes at three tracks, with Alexine in the Santa Lucia Stakes at Santa Anita, Crazy Ensign in the Miss America Handicap at Bay Meadows, and Kudos in the Grade 1 Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park.

Since then, Mandella-trained runners have lost in 16 stakes, finishing second in seven of them.

"I can't complain," he said. "The horses are running well."

ELMONT, N.Y. - Bowman's Band has been competitive in graded stakes, but so far a graded win has eluded him. His connections are hoping to take care of that in Saturday's $250,000 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Brooklyn, which has none of the top handicap stars, may be the perfect spot for the 4-year-old to pick up his first graded win. The colt has already shown an affinity for Belmont by winning his career debut here a year ago by 5 1/2 lengths.

ALTOONA, Iowa - The Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a law that taxed Iowa's racetracks at a graduated rate is unconstitutional. As a result of the ruling Prairie Meadows is expected to receive a refund of about $50 million for taxes previously paid at the graduated rate.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - An attorney for The Thoroughbred Corp. filed a lawsuit against Sportsman's Park on Monday in Los Angeles over the disputed $1 million bonus War Emblem earned by winning the Illinois Derby and the Kentucky Derby.

The lawsuit asks that Sportsman's not distribute the bonus until a settlement has been reached between Russell Reineman, War Emblem's minority owner, and The Thoroughbred Corp.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Candid Glen, a three-time stakes winner who has been ridden by E.J. Perrodin in all but one of his 23 career starts, will have a new pilot Saturday for the $250,000 Dallas Turf Cup at Lone Star Park.

Perrodin, considered one of the best turf riders in the region, has been sidelined the past several weeks with back pain following a spill, and will be replaced by Kirk LeBlanc, the leading jockey at Louisiana Downs last year who currently ranks among the top 10 riders at Lone Star.

MIAMI - As a young rider, Abad Cabassa Jr. tasted success quickly, winning numerous riding titles on the New England circuit in the late 1970's and early 1980's. But it has been quite some time since Cabassa has had the kind of success he had here last weekend, when he won the Kissin Kris and Naked Greed stakes aboard Marquette and Tour of the Cat.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Bill McLean has always liked Double Shot Latte.

"She's a nice-looking filly with a good style. She lays close to the front," McLean said.

It didn't take much urging when some of McLean's clients showed interest in claiming the 4-year-old filly. McLean claimed her for $20,000 on May 26 and brings her back for Friday night's co-feature, a six-furlong allowance race.

"That's about as high as we go," McLean said of the $20,000 price tag.

Eye My Alexis, winner of last year's Oklahoma Horseman's Association Futurity, will try to take the 3-year-old counterpart - the Grade 3, $58,000 Oklahoma Horseman's Association Derby - at Fair Meadows in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday.

The Don Mourning-trained Eye My Alexis picked up her first win from four starts this year, winning the fourth of four derby trials by one length in 17.811 seconds for the 350 yards. It is the fastest qualifying mark.

LINCOLN, Neb. - A crowd of 2,426 turned out for Saturday's Belmont Stakes program, an increase of 450 over last year, and they got a bit more than they bargained for. Several delays throughout the day added more than an hour to Saturday's nine-race program.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Honor the Hero, one of the better horses to have raced at Canterbury Park in the 1990's, led the post parade May 27 for the race named in his honor, but he won't be making a career of being a pony horse.