ALBANY, Calif. - The claiming game can be tough, but it can also provide instant winners.

Trainer Robert Dempsey is hoping for an instant winner in Sunday's feature race at Golden Gate Fields. He claimed Lytle Creek from leading trainer Jerry Hollendorfer for $32,000 in his last start and runs him Sunday in a $40,000 optional claimer at one mile.

Lytle Creek is getting used to running for new trainers. Dempsey's claim for owner Gene Johnson marked the third time Lytle Creek had been claimed in his past six starts.

NEW ORLEANS - Owner Ernie Paragallo and trainer Dick Lundy have not yet settled on the next start for their star-crossed colt , but he probably will run here next month and could emerge as a top contender for the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap in March.

ALBANY, Calif. - The year 2002 was supposed to be the end of an era. Bay Meadows, the oldest racetrack in northern California, was expected to close its doors with racing either at a new track in Dixon, Calif., or at Golden Gate year-round.

But F. Jack Liebau, the president of Bay Meadows and Golden Gate Fields in northern California and the leader of Magna Entertainment's racing interests in California, believes racing will continue at Bay Meadows, which is located in San Mateo, beyond 2002.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Momentum was excluded from the Hollywood Derby six weeks ago because he did not have sufficient accomplishments in graded stakes.

A lot has changed since then.

On Saturday, Momentum is the likely favorite in the $200,000 San Fernando Breeders' Cup Stakes for 4-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles at Santa Anita. His newfound respect can be credited to a victory against older horses in the Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park on Dec. 9, his first start on dirt.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - It has been 602 days since Red Bullet upset Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus in the 2000 Preakness Stakes. Myriad nagging injuries have limited him to four starts since with mixed results.

With those physical problems apparently behind Red Bullet, trainer Joe Orseno believes his 5-year-old is ready to confirm his status as one of the top horses in training beginning with Saturday's $100,000, Grade 3 Skip Away Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Lovers Son, who upset the heavily favored Tomtom Tommalice when last seen in the Oregon Sprint Championship on Dec. 15, will seek a third straight win when he takes on seven tough allowance rivals in Saturday's six-furlong feature at Portland Meadows.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Spinelessjellyfish and Echo Eddie have much in common. Together, they have won the last two runnings of the Sensational Star Handicap at Santa Anita. Both are lightly raced and have outstanding records, particularly against statebreds.

On Saturday, they meet for the first time, in the $100,000 Sensational Star Handicap for California-breds on the hillside turf course. With distinctive styles - Echo Eddie as a pacesetter, and Spinelessjellyfish as a stalker - they are both capable of winning against five others.

But both raise questions.

ALBANY, Calif. - Saturday's Golden Gate Derby may eventually be considered one of the most significant races ever run at Golden Gate Fields.

A field of six 3-year-olds entered the $125,000, 1 1/16-mile, Grade 3 race.

While the race has produced one Kentucky Derby winner, Real Quiet in 1998, it's significance Saturday comes from a stewards' ruling that will allow three horses trained by Jerry Hollendorfer to run as three individual entrants rather than one coupled entry.

NEW ORLEANS - Round three of five in the Fair Grounds sprint stakes division comes up Saturday. A few fresh challengers were rounded up, but the heavy hitters remain the same. Bonapaw, Abajo, and a revitalized *, players in sprint stakes here for the last several seasons, renew their rivalry in the $75,000 Colonel Power Handicap.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Megahertz did not make a favorable first impression in Wednesday's $76,300 Blue Norther Stakes.

She spotted the other seven 3-year-old fillies a few lengths after a slow start, surprising jockey Alex Solis.

"She stood there and after a second I said, 'Let's go,' " Solis said.

Megahertz got the message. Closing from as far as eight lengths off the pace, Megahertz squeezed her way between fillies in the stretch to win her U.S. debut by 1 1/4 lengths.