AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs horsemen are learning to live without straw.

AUBURN, Wash. - The 2002 jockey colony at Emerald Downs appears to be the strongest in the track's seven-year history, and two prime reasons for that are newcomers Kris Prather and Gary Palmer.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Tuesday morning, Steve Flint didn't even know whether he would enter De Bertie, let alone run her. But when word got out that the field was short for the Doubledogdare Stakes, the Thursday feature at Keeneland, there was De Bertie, comfortably drawn on the rail in a field of just five fillies and mares.

ARCADIA, Calif. - European import Snowflake arrived in the United States with a glowing reputation and all her conditions.

The filly had raced 11 times in Ireland and England, but was still a maiden late last year when she reached the barn of trainer Ron McAnally. "Just like Bonapartiste; he was a maiden when he got here," McAnally said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Echo Eddie and Men's Exclusive recovered so quickly from their trip to Dubai that both are considered probable starters Friday at Santa Anita in the $100,000 Valiant Pete Handicap for California-breds.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Tuesday, on a summer-like morning at Belmont Park, a groundbreaking ceremony took place for a child-care center, the country's first on-site facility for the children of backstretch employees.

Work on the 7,500-square foot building, which will cost $1.2 million to construct, will be completed over the summer, with the center opening in the fall. At full capacity, the year-round facility, located adjacent to

LEXINGTON, Ky. - If nothing else, Charles "Chuck" Simon learned well. A longtime former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens, Simon has demonstrated with his work - not his words - that his horses can run with anyone's.

"That's the way 'The Chief' does things, and the way I prefer to conduct my business, too," said Simon, referring to Jerkens's nickname and silent-but-strong demeanor. Simon worked for Jerkens for 5 1/2 years.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Trainer Art Sherman hopes his hot streak will continue when he saddles Milagra in Thursday's feature race at Bay Meadows.

Milagra needed 12 starts to win her maiden but now has won two straight races. She will try to make it three in a row in Thursday's six-furlong $40,000 optional claimer against five other older fillies and mares.

Milagra is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Moss, who have begun sending horses to Sherman.

"The last three I've run for them have won," Sherman said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The youngest stakes winner in the country will be crowned here Friday when 2-year-olds go three furlongs in the $75,000 Valid Appeal Stakes.

Four of the 14 nominees for the Valid Appeal have already earned their diplomas, including the filly Shelby's Angel, who beat 11 rivals handily on April 4.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Trainer James Bond has waited nearly 28 years to get to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby with a horse. Another two weeks won't matter.

While Medaglia d'Oro and Sunday Break, the second- and third-place finishers in Saturday's Wood Memorial, were scheduled to be flown Tuesday from New York to Louisville for the May 4 Kentucky Derby, Bond said he would keep Wood winner in New York for the next two weeks.