ALBANY, Calif. - A field of six with only four betting interests is likely for Saturday's running of the $125,000 Golden Gate Derby at Golden Gate Fields.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Meadows will return to racing three days a week on Friday, when the track will offer 10 live races stocked with 103 runners.

Friday's card will inaugurate a slightly revamped wagering schedule. The nightcap, one of three races on the program with 12-horse fields, will offer superfecta wagering for the first time at this meeting. The pick three, which had been offered on races five through seven, has been discontinued.

NEW ORLEANS - Crucible is still crazy after all these years. And at age 7, he's still a capable stakes horse, too.

Rejuvenated with a fast-closing second-place finish three weeks ago at Fair Grounds in the F.W. Gaudin Handicap, his best race in a couple of seasons, Crucible starts again Saturday in another older-horse sprint stakes here, the Colonel Power. Ignored at odds of 13-1 in the Gaudin, he'll be taken more seriously this time after missing by a nose last time despite a troubled stretch run.

Urlacher has made a strong impression on horsemen at Sunland Park, winning both his career starts at this meet with ease against fellow New Mexico-breds.

In last Saturday's seventh race, he won a nonwinners-of-two-lifetime allowance race, covering six furlongs in 1:10.89 under jockey Brian Theriot.

Trainer Joel Marr will now point Urlacher for the $100,000-added Pepsi-Cola Handicap on Jan. 20, a state bred sprint for 3-year-olds.

Ronney Brown is the new king of the hill among Charles Town trainers.

Brown saddled 129 winners to finish seven ahead of seven-time season champion Jeff Runco.

The seasonal crown ranks as a career highlight for Brown, who ranked among the top 10 trainers six times at Penn National, won seven three-month meet titles at Charles Town during the past three years, and trained Charles Town's 2000 Horse of the Year, Pressin' Your Luck.

EAST BOSTON, Mass - Racing secretary John Morrissey has released a slate of 25 stakes races to be contested between Jan. 19 and the close of the meeting on June 8.

The highlight of the $1.34 million package is the 63rd running of the Grade 2 Massachusetts Handicap on June 1. The $500,000 Mass Cap is one of four stakes scheduled for that afternoon's card. The co-feature is the $150,000 James B. Moseley Breeders' Cup Handicap at six furlongs.

PORTLAND, Ore. - When Thoroughbred stakes action resumed at Portland Meadows with Saturday's running of the $10,000 Oregon Thoroughbred Breeders Association Stallion Stakes for newly turned 3-year-olds, Ransome Road was ready for it. According to trainer L.A. "Hammy" Williams, the same couldn't be said of the gelding's three prior starts.

Turfway Park canceled its Wednesday night card after rising temperatures caused Turfway's frozen racetrack to thaw rapidly and in an uneven manner. The cancellation was announced early Wednesday afternoon.

Turfway remained open for simulcast wagering Wednesday evening.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Strolling Belle, a 6-year-old mare, will sport a new look when she runs in Saturday's $100,000-added Affectionately Handicap at Aqueduct.

Trainer John Kimmel said Strolling Belle, second in last year's Grade 3 Affectionately, will race with blinkers for the first time in her career in the 1 1/16-mile stakes.

Kimmel said it was an idea he had toyed with before, but decided against it because the mare, who makes her 29th career start on Saturday, was running well enough without blinkers.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - An irritated hoof forced the scratch of Too Scarlet from an allowance race last month. The problem wasn't serious, and trainer Kristina Dupps has found a similar spot for the 4-year-old New York-bred Too Scarlet at Aqueduct in Thursday's eighth race.

Dupps nominated Too Scarlet, who is 5 for 7 lifetime, to Saturday's $100,000-added Affectionately and said she would have run there if this third-level open allowance race didn't fill. Six fillies and mares entered the mile race, which will be run around two turns on the inner track for a $48,000 purse.