AUBURN, Wash. - The paucity of entries through the first 15 days of racing at the current Emerald Downs meeting has resulted not only in a low average field size - just 7.2 horses per race - but also in the small number of races per card.

Grant Holcomb, the track's director of racing, has been able to offer only four 10-race programs, and only three nine-race cards. There have been seven eight-race programs, and on one occasion Holcomb was forced to go with only seven races, the fewest ever here.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Valhol, a two-time stakes winner during the recent Fair Grounds meet, is on schedule to make the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap on May 27 after missing last month's Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Take Charge Lady, who figured as an overwhelming favorite Friday in the Black Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico, was scratched from the race early Tuesday after being diagnosed with a lung infection.

Take Charge Lady worked a sharp three furlongs in 35 seconds Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. Afterward, she was subjected to an endoscopic examination, and it was determined that she "had pretty much mucous" in her lungs, said trainer Ken McPeek.

BALTIMORE, Md. - For a place that will play host to the second leg of the Triple Crown in five days, Pimlico Race Course was eerily quiet on Monday morning, more resembling a private training center than a track conducting a live race meeting.

BALTIMORE - Trainer Ken McPeek failed in an attempt to sweep the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby with Take Charge Lady and Harlan's Holiday, but he will send out the same two this week in an attempt to win both Friday's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for fillies and Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

Take Charge Lady is among eight horses who have been entered in the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan, a Grade 2 stakes, which, like the Kentucky Oaks, is at 1 1/8 miles. She finished second in the Oaks to the upset winner Farda Amiga.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It is fitting that on Wednesday, a day when many seniors attend Churchill Downs, that a senior on the racetrack headlines the card. Bet on Sunshine, a 10-year-old gelding, makes his seasonal debut in the ninth race, a $58,500 allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Even against stakes winners Bright Valour and Bidis, Bet on Sunshine will be heavily favored to teach his younger foes a lesson. The reasons are clear.

ELMONT, N.Y. - A pair of intriguing allowance races for older horses that could yield a starter or two for the Brooklyn Handicap on June 15 highlight Wednesday's nine-race card at Belmont Park.

The fifth race, a nine-furlong classified allowance race, drew a field of six, topped by Gander, the New York-bred gelding who won the Meadowlands Cup last fall. He will meet 2000 Lafayette Stakes winner Griffinite, who wheels back just a week after finishing sixth in the Westchester Handicap on opening day.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Fair Apache needs to win Wednesday's seventh race at Hollywood Park merely to cover her travel bill for May.

Two weeks ago, Fair Apache was entered in the Mamzelle Stakes for female turf sprinters at Churchill Downs, but was scratched when rain pelted the turf course.

Trainer Christopher Paasch estimates the trip to Kentucky cost $10,000, but he has no regrets of exiting the race after watching it unfold on a soggy course.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Going by the result of Saturday's Grade 3 Eclipse Handicap, Exclusive Run should be dangerous in Wednesday's eighth at Woodbine, an $80,900 allowance for non-winners of $45,180 other than maiden or claiming in 2002.

An accomplished group of six older runners was drawn for the seven-furlong dash, which was originally carded for the portion of last Friday's card cancelled because of high winds.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Marina Del Sol will try to become the first three time winner at the young Hastings Park meet in a 6 1/2-furlong spring for older fillies and mares running for a top claiming price of $20,000 this Wednesday evening. She figures to be a solid favorite over eight others, all of them winless this year.