GROVE CITY, Ohio - Track maintenance crews grated the racing surface here during the off days last week and the result was a fair racing surface this weekend at Beulah Park.

The previous weekend, which opened the 69-day winter-spring meeting, the racing surface was very deep and produced slow times and a pronounced wide-rally bias.

Racing is being conducted on a Friday through Sunday basis here in January. Tuesdays will be added to the schedule in February and Thursdays will be added in March. The meet runs through Kentucky Derby Day on May 4.

Confucius Say, who won five races and more than $250,000 as a 3-year-old, has been chosen Horse of the Year for 2001 at Charles Town.

Owned by O'Sullivan Farms and trained by George Yetsook, Confucius Say accumulated more than half his bankroll with a runaway victory in the $250,000 West Virginia Breeders Classic on Oct. 13.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Randy Martin was enjoying a gorgeous Tuesday morning on the Gulfstream Park backstretch when he was shown the past performances for Thursday's ninth race, an optional claiming/third level allowance event at seven furlongs.

There, in big, black ink was the 109 Beyer Speed Figure earned in his previous start by Dream Run, the horse trained by Paul McGee for whom Martin works as an assistant.

"Wow," Martin said, "I hope we don't bounce."

ARCADIA, Calif. - Last summer at Del Mar, trainer Roger Stein raced Swiss Miss twice within seven days, and she responded with a victory and a second-place finish. Believing she thrives on such activity, Stein is going to try to win two races with Swiss Miss within one week.

Swiss Miss won a high-priced claiming race last Friday, and she is being wheeled back in just six days for Thursday's featured seventh race at Santa Anita. The one-mile turf race, which drew a field of 10 older fillies and mares, is for second-level allowance runners, or $80,000 claimers.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - The company Carafe has been keeping gives her an edge over her competition in Thursday's feature at Aqueduct, a $47,000 third-level allowance race.

Joining Carafe in the six-furlong race are Arpeggio, Juke Joint Jenny, Dotsie's Doll, and Silent Serenade.

In the last year, Carafe, a 4-year-old Devil's Bag filly, has been pitted against stakes winners such as Xtra Heat, Dat You Miz Blue, Raging Fever, and Victory Ride, with mixed results.

ALBANY, Calif. - Odds-on favorite Above Perfection toyed with seven rivals as she easily captured the $67,100 Orinda Handicap* at Golden Gate Fields on Monday.

Above Perfection ($3) was in a head-and-head duel with Phaenna down the backstretch before easing clear on the turn. She drifted in a bit during the drive but defeated Bullish Miss by one length, running six furlongs on a wet-fast track in 1:09.09.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Free of Love's impressive victory in the allowance headliner Monday could put him in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap on Feb. 9.

ALBANY, Calif. - Two familiar faces will be missing from the Golden Gate Fields jockey colony when racing resumes Thursday. Hot apprentice Kevin Krigger suffered an injury and received a seven-day suspension Monday, and Agapito Delgadillo announced his retirement.

The 35-year-old Delgadillo, who won the 1997 California Derby with I'm a Jewel, had ridden regularly in northern California since 1994. He took off two mounts Sunday and told his agent, Roger Olguin, he planned to move to Southern California to open a Mexican grocery store. He said he may still gallop horses.

ARCADIA, Calif. - For a guy based this winter in Florida, Jerry Bailey might as well get a permanent locker in the jockeys' room at Santa Anita, too. Bailey was here last week to ride Siphonic in the Santa Catalina Stakes, and he will return two times in the next three weeks, both times to ride horses trained by Bobby Frankel.

NEW ORLEANS - Saturday's $100,000 Lecomte Stakes has a lot to offer for an emerging 3-year-old. Contested at a flat mile with a short stretch run, it's a bridge to longer races for unproven route horses. And with the division's stars awaiting more glamorous spots, it can help measure a 3-year-old's quality without grinding him to dust early in the year.

It's the perfect race for a horse like Sky Terrace, who makes his seasonal debut in the Lecomte, a jumping off point for horses who could head to the Grade 3 Risen Star Stakes and Grade 2 Louisiana Derby later this meet.