GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - In her first start in nearly five months, Miss Ritz rallied from off a hot pace to win the $75,000 Wafare Farm Stakes at Lone Star Park by 1 3/4 lengths over 1-5 favorite Gilded Wings. It was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third to Truly Sunlit.

Murray Johnson has been doing his homework. The trainer is bringing , the winner of the Spiral Stakes, into the Kentucky Derby following a six-week break. Asked on Friday if he knew when the last Derby winner had done that, Johnson rattled off the information as though he was auditioning for a job as a researcher on ESPN's racing coverage.

"Needles," Johnson correctly said. "He won a couple of Triple Crown races, so if we can do as well as him, we'll be fine."

JAMAICA, N.Y. - In two weeks, trainer James Bond takes his first swing at racing's ultimate prize when he runs Buddha in the Kentucky Derby. Sunday, Bond returns to his roots when he saddles Princess Dixie and Bo Bo's Thunder in the Park Avenue Division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Park Avenue, run for 3-year-old fillies, and the Times Square Division, for 3-year-old colts and geldings, are restricted to progeny of New York-based stallions. Both races, run at one mile, are worth $100,000.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Considering the mere $100,000 pot and its Grade 3 ranking, the Ben Ali Stakes sure came up a rough one.

The Ben Ali, to be run for the 72nd time Sunday at Keeneland, attracted just five starters, but two of them have credentials that go well beyond everyday Grade 3 fare: Invisible Ink, who finished second in the 2001 Kentucky Derby and is gearing up for what his connections believe will be an outstanding 4-year-old campaign, and Parade Leader, who in his last start captured the Grade 2, $500,000 New Orleans Handicap by 5 1/4 lengths.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Closing day of the Santa Anita winter meet seemed a long way off when the season began back on Dec. 26. Jockey Pat Valenzuela had not ridden in nearly two years; trainer Richard Mandella was in the middle of a 3-for-51 slump that lasted through January.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sweet Promises became the youngest stakes winner in Florida, posting a neck victory over Supah Blitz and four other 2-year-olds in Friday's $80,600 Valid Appeal Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Stylelistick posted her second win in as many starts this year when she closed with a flourish Friday to win the $112,100 Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland.

Ridden by Pat Day and trained by Bill Mott, Stylelistick paid $7 as second choice in the Appalachian, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies. Lush Soldier, a 14-1 shot, also closed well to finish second, 2 1/2 lengths behind Stylelistick and three-quarters of a length before front-running August Storm.

New Jersey racing officials and horsemen announced Friday that they have reached a three-year agreement on racing dates and pledged to aggressively pursue the establishment of offtrack betting and telephone and internet wagering.

Under the agreement, Monmouth and The Meadowlands will hold a combined 141 live racing dates in each of the next three years. Monmouth and The Meadowlands will also pay horsemen $3.3 million this year to cover an underpayment last year and to settle a dispute on simulcasting distributions.

AUBURN, Wash. - The $35,000 U. S. Bank Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, an opening weekend fixture at Emerald Downs since the track opened in 1996, will head a nine-race program at Emerald on Sunday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Whistling Maid, riding the wave of a two-race win streak, will try to stretch her speed out to seven furlongs in Sunday's $134,375 Lady Angela Stakes, for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies, at Woodbine.

Whistling Maid, a homebred owned by Robert Weber, hit the board in four of her first five outings at 2 for trainer Glenn Magnusson. She finally graduated in her seventh start in November, leading throughout a five-furlong maiden special and putting up a Beyer Speed Figure of 80.