There will be one fewer Kentucky Derby prep on the calendar next year. The $500,000 Lone Star Derby, which was awarded Grade 3 status on Thursday, will be run a week after the Kentucky Derby next year, on May 11. In its past five runnings, the race was held two to four weeks before the Kentucky Derby.

In other changes to the race, the $1 million bonus that rewarded the Lone Star Derby winner who went on to win a Triple Crown race will not be renewed next year. In the two years the bonus was offered, 2000 and 2001, it was not hit.

NEW ORLEANS - It was a year ago that Concerned Minister wowed racing observers here, winning the Tenacious Handicap by more than 11 lengths, equaling the track record for 1 1/16 miles, and earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 121, one of the highest speed figures recorded in 2000.

It was a huge move forward for Concerned Minister, and if any of the six horses entered this year in the $75,000 Tenacious is to come close to duplicating Concerned Minister's performance, he, too, will have to step up his game.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - A Fleets Dancer will be looking to cap a stellar campaign as the heavy favorite in Sunday's 1 3/4-mile Valedictory Handicap, the closing-day feature of the Woodbine meet.

Coronation Futurity winner Streakin Rob heads the other stakes on the 12-race card, the $130,625 Kingarvie, for Ontario-sired 2-year-olds. Pick six wagering will be offered on races 5-10.

ALBANY, Calif. - Eighteen-year-old apprentice jockey Kevin Krigger is earning the respect of Golden Gate Fields trainers.

Krigger is not listed on a mount for Sunday's running of the $55,000-added Moment to Buy Handicap, but he was listed to ride Today a Star in Saturday's Albany Handicap.

Krigger, a native of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, won his first race at Golden Gate Fields on Friday. He cut the corner on the far turn inside Russell Baze (aboard favored Pearls N Lace) as he guided Angel's Touch to a victory in the opening race.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Recent winners Murdock and I'm Yer Hucklebery head a mixed bag of eight in Sunday's six-furlong allowance feature at Portland Meadows.

The field comprises three 3-year-olds, including a filly, an older mare, and four older males.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Like the rest of us, trainer John Salzman figured two hard races against colts would have taken a toll on his sensational 3-year-old filly *. But, since they haven't, Salzman plans to continue running Xtra Heat and will ship her to Aqueduct for next Saturday's $75,000 Garland of Roses Handicap.

"Why not run her until she needs a break?" Salzman said. "I don't care how good she is, if she doesn't need a break I can't give her a break. I thought those colts would knock her out. Instead, she knocked them out."

NEW ORLEANS - There is an aging fellow on the Fair Grounds backstretch who has been places none of his colleagues have been. Green pastures, slow mornings in the sun, and mares - mares everywhere. All that's gone for now, and Commitisize, age 6 and approaching his sixth season of racing, is back at the track again.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Few people would have blamed trainer Tom Skiffington if he had left California earlier this week. Last Sunday, Spook Express, his top turf mare, was euthanized after suffering an injury during the running of the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes.

Spook Express was the reason Skiffington came to California with three horses this fall. Even though the other two still had races to run, Skiffington could have retreated to Florida, his winter base.

"I've had some bad days but Sunday was the toughest," Skiffington said. "It scars you for life."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - When the Jockey Club of Canada announces the finalists for this year's Sovereign Awards on Monday, it's a pretty safe bet that Streakin Rob will be on the 2-year-old colt or gelding list.

But first there's the not-so-small matter of Sunday's closing-day co-feature at Woodbine, the Kingarvie Stakes, which falls too late to impact the Sovereign voting but presents Streakin Rob with the prospect of a $78,375 payday and an opportunity to further his education with a hopeful eye toward next year's Queen's Plate.

MIAMI - Groomstick Stock's will be a longshot in next Saturday's $100,000 Tropical Turf Handicap. But as hot as his trainer, Paul Brettler, has been recently, it might be wise to keep a close eye on Groomstick Stock's, even though he has not run on the grass in over a year.