EDMONTON, Alberta - Fred Hilts has been appointed race secretary for the rest of the Thoroughbred season at Northlands Park.

Hilts succeeds Alan Bott, who resigned this spring, citing irreconcilable differences with Larry Carter, executive director of the Alberta Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

Bott will continue to serve as race secretary for the Standardbred division here.

"I have accepted the job until the end of the season, then both sides will weigh our options," said Hilts, adding that no contract has been signed.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Elana D'Amour looks like a standout in Sunday's $35,000 Emerald Downs Handicap at Hastings Park. The 6 1/2-furlong feature drew six other horses, but if Elana D'Amour runs her usual race, the rest of the field will be running for second money.

AUBURN, Wash. - Did Acure for Geri get good because she was switched to the turf, or because she was sent long?

The answer, important as it may be for handicapping Sunday's 1 1/16-mile Irish Day Handicap at Emerald Downs, is thoroughly ambiguous.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Sea of Tranquility won the $50,000 Jersey Breeders' Handicap only two weeks ago, but he is geared up to run again in the Skip Away Stakes on Sunday. Just ask trainer Richard Paulus for proof.

Lone Star Park near Dallas was granted $2.9 million for capital improvements for the Breeders' Cup from the City of Grand Prairie Sports Facilities Development Corp., on Friday. The track has been selected as a conditional host for the Breeders' Cup in 2005, but could be called upon to house the event as early as 2004.

The funds will be used to expand Lone Star's existing seating capacity of about 10,000 to 50,000. The money will also be used to make improvements to the stable area.

Emerald Downs has announced a new handicapping contest that will send a record 12 qualifiers to the Daily Racing Form/NTRA National Handicapping Championship. The Ultimate Qualifying Tournament, scheduled for Sunday, July 28, will offer $11,600 in prize money.

Approximately 50 tracks, OTB's, and casinos around the country will host regional qualifying events for the national championship, to be held in January 2003 in Las Vegas. Venues normally send four qualifiers to the national finals; Emerald is the first track ever to send its top 12 finishers to the Las Vegas finals.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - After a five-year absence, Leonard Lavin's Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor are back at Arlington. But don't expect as much production from their short string here this year as was seen in the 1990's.

Proctor and Lavin, who lives in Glencoe, Ill., were fixtures here in the 1990's. They won 21 races in 1992 and campaigned One Dreamer at Arlington for three years, including 1994, the year she won the Breeders' Cup Distaff at 47-1.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nearly 3 1/2 years ago, Grits'n Hard Toast was regarded as a possible contender for the 125th Kentucky Derby. He had won the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 16, 1999, but he soon was off the Derby trail following a couple of disappointing efforts.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Bold World has been pointing for the Grade 3, $250,000 Azalea Breeders' Cup at Calder on July 13, but she may have one intermediate test before then in Sunday's $50,000 Dearly Precious Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Monmouth Park.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Richard Schosberg said picking between the Tom Fool and Poker - a pair of graded stakes run at Belmont Park this week - for Affirmed Success is the kind of decision he wishes he had to make more often.

"These are the decisions you want to make," Schosberg said Friday at his Belmont barn. "I agonize over what claiming races to go in."