CHICAGO - Flying Dash, who briefly was considered for the Kentucky Derby, heads a field of seven entered Wednesday for Saturday's Hawthorne Derby, a Grade 3 turf race with a $250,000 purse.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Buddha, the Wood Memorial winner who turned up lame and was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the day before the race, could resume training by the weekend and will be pointed to the Dwyer Stakes on July 7, trainer James Bond said.

Bond said the injury was just "a bad, bad bruise" of Buddha's left front foot. On Monday, Buddha underwent a nuclear bone scan at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic, which revealed nothing. Buddha was vanned from Lexington to Bond's Saratoga barn on Wednesday.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - A spring snowstorm greeted 2,432 customers at Assiniboia Downs last Sunday when the 2002 meeting opened.

Trainer Ardell Sayler and jockey Rohan Singh began their quest for a third consecutive defense of their respective local titles by winning two races each Sunday. But Jacques DesAutels had the best day of the jockeys, winning four of the eight races.

TORONTO, Ontario - Headed by the Grade 3 Canadian Derby on Aug. 24, a 32-race stakes schedule worth a record $1,625,000 will be offered at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta, this year.

The total stakes money available over the 68-day meeting, which runs from June 21 through Oct. 19, represents an increase of almost 18 percent over last year's stakes program.

Alan Bott, racing secretary at Northlands, said revenues from the province's slot machine program provided the money for the stakes increases.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Trainer Gary Johnson notched his 21st local training title April 29 when he sent out 12 winners from 92 starters to win the Summit meet, the first of four meets to be held at Thistledown this year. Johnson's title tied him with Shirley Girten for having led the trainer standings the most times at Thistledown.

Penn National-based trainer Todd Beattie has a knack for developing young horses.

Several years ago, Beattie had Fiesty Countess, a multiple stakes-winning filly that he sold for a price in the mid-six figures. Last season, owner Tom McClay's Beau Surprise won 8 of 11 starts, including five stakes, under Beattie's guidance.

McClay and Beattie also have Osway, winner of the $71,000 Pennsylvania Futurity last fall and the favorite in Friday night's $30,000-added Danzig Stakes at Penn National.

Jeanies Rob much prefers six furlongs, but the 6-year-old horse easily adapted to a shorter distance when he rallied behind a fast pace to win last Saturday's first stakes of the season at Mountaineer Park, the $75,000 Panhandle Handicap.

Trained by Alan Sobol and ridden by Luis Gonzalez, Jeanies Bob ($9.20) covered five furlongs in 58.07 seconds and earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

By winning for the 12th time in 33 lifetime starts, Jeanies Rob surpassed $320,000 in earnings.

MUSKEGON, MICH. - Less than two weeks into the fourth season of racing at Great Lakes Downs, two riders are dominating the standings. Last year's champion, Terry Houghton is tied with the 2000 top jockey, Freddie Mata, with 10 wins each. Mata, with 42 mounts, six fewer than Houghton, visited the winner's circle five times Saturday evening.

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. - Jockey Dan Beck escaped serious injury Sunday in a mishap in the starting gate as the field loaded for the seventh race at Fonner Park.

His mount, Mission North, became unruly and launched Beck into the adjoining stall. He was taken from the track by ambulance and held at a local hospital overnight for observation while complaining of difficulty breathing. Beck will miss the track's closing weekend but is expected to ready for next Friday's opening weekend at Lincoln's State Fair Park.

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Carmelo Mendoza, who for several years was assistant to trainer Ronnie Ward at Fairmount Park, struck out on his own this season and is off to a rousing start, winning with six of his first 24 starters here. Last Friday, Mendoza had two winners at Sportsman's Park before adding another one at Fairmount that evening.