SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Wesley Ward has been around long enough not to get overly excited about a maiden winning her first start.

With a 25 percent winning percentage among first-time starters, he is used to seeing his horses perform well early in their careers.

However Ward has also been around long enough to know when he has a runner with a chance to be special, and he believes he has one in Bear Fan.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Legislation that would have raised the parimutuel takeout to offset higher workmen's compensation rates paid by California trainers has been shelved, but may be revisited in the future, racing officials said on Thursday.

Since the end of February, when private insurance companies stopped offering workmen's compensation policies to trainers, racing officials have been searching for methods to pay the higher premiums offered by the government-backed State Fund.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Officials from Fairplex Park and Santa Anita have met in recent weeks to discuss the possibility of moving the Los Angeles County Fair meeting in September to Santa Anita, but the potential move does not have the support of a key member of the California Horse Racing Board.

Commissioner John Harris said Thursday he would be opposed to changing venues this year.

BALTIMORE - After one of his fillies was disqualified from first in a Grade 1 stakes two weeks ago, and another was beaten by a nose in a Grade 2 race last Saturday, trainer Mark Hennig was beginning to think he was snakebit.

So when his filly Summer Colony and 6-5 favorite Dancethruthedawn came down to the wire following a stirring stretch drive in Friday's $150,000 Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap, Hennig allowed himself to think the worst.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The most conservative path trainer C.W. "Bubba" Cascio could take with Lights on Broadway would be to start him against fellow Texas-breds in the $50,000 Carter McGregor Jr. Stakes at Lone Star Park on May 27.

But Lights on Broadway, a gelding, is doing so well Cascio is contemplating running him in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap the same day. Both races are part of a seven-stakes card called Lone Star Million Day.

MIAMI - When nominations were released for Sunday's $35,000 Forty One Carats Stakes it appeared the seven-furlong race would be just another easy payday for division leader Fappie's Notebook, who defeated a similar group as the odds-on favorite in the Ponche Handicap three week ago. But when trainer Manny Tortora opted to enter Fappie's Notebook in Saturday's Carterista Handicap on the turf instead, the Forty One Carats suddenly became anybody's race.

MIAMI - Brothers Kelly and Emmett Winter were indicted Friday on conspiracy and fraud charges for running a ringer at Calder Race Course and Philadelphia Park in 1998. The two defendants were arrested by the FBI on Friday in Florida and New Mexico following an investigation that began in September 1998.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - After winning only once last year, Sambuca on Ice is on a roll, and on Sunday he goes for his third straight win in the $130,500 New Providence.

Sambuca on Ice, a 5-year-old, was claimed for $50,000 by trainer Rita Schnitzler and owner Frank Romano in his third career appearance here in June 2000, and recorded a win and two seconds from four starts over the balance of that year.

But last year he scored just once in nine outings.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - When Key Lory was entered in the Grade 3 Oceanport Handicap at Monmouth Park last Aug. 5, trainer Dennis Manning was optimistic that he would run well, despite having never raced on the grass before. Key Lory, then 7, had trained nicely over the turf, but there was no need to run him on it because of previous success in stakes on the dirt.

PHOENIX - It's called the Hasta La Vista for a reason. The Turf Paradise season is coming to a close and, as is customary, the $50,000 Hasta La Vista Handicap at 1 7/8 miles on turf Sunday brings down the curtain on the long live racing season, which began in late September.

The Hasta La Vista is always interesting. Horses don't often get a chance to race the 1 7/8-mile distance in the United States, and this year's race has lured a field of 12.