Drawing on the success of several other racetracks, Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., will offer a frequent-bettor promotion for the first time during the track's upcoming live race meet, which is scheduled to begin Saturday.

The promotion, called "The Club," will allow members to cash in points based on wagering action for programs, food vouchers, free admission, mutuel vouchers, and a trip to Las Vegas. Many U.S. tracks, taking their cues from casinos, have implemented similar programs for bettors, including the tracks owned by Churchill Downs Inc. and Turfway Park.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon-bred Day, which will be held for the eighth time at Portland Meadows on Saturday, has become the focal point of the season for many Oregon horsemen, but nobody has concentrated on the event's five stakes more than owner and trainer Pat Sonnen.

Sonnen has bred, claimed, and trained for Oregon-bred Day since its inception in 1994, and he won the rich Oregon Futurity with Slews Onry Won in 1998. The trainer is poised to eclipse his past successes on Saturday, however, as he will saddle the odds-on favorites in three of the stakes.

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - The 400-yard distance of Saturday's $1,256,600 Los Alamitos Million Futurity is all that separates Tres Seis from the championship for 2-year-old Quarter Horses.

A winner of 5 of 7 starts, Tres Seis was second in the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 3 and a convincing winner of the Golden State Futurity at Los Alamitos on Nov. 3. With those credentials, another victory in an important race such as the Los Alamitos Million would significantly enhance Tres Seis's chances of a year-end title.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Publication, who was fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and is entered for Saturday's Hollywood Futurity at Hollywood Park, has been acquired privately by Ernie Moody and Mercedes Vila's Mercedes Stable. The transaction took place earlier this week, according to trainer Terry Knight. The price was not disclosed.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the more than 20 years that Ed and Bernice Gann have owned horses with trainer Bobby Frankel, the focal point of their operation has been importing European turf horses, like Pay the Butler and Timboroa, who went from a cut below to a cut above. But the horizon has widened recently, and the view looks awfully good.

Lone Star Park near Dallas has shuffled several of its stakes for 2002 by moving its richest race, the newly graded $500,000 Lone Star Derby, to a later date; replacing the $100,000 Mesquite Mile with the $150,000 Stonerside Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies May 25; and putting Breeders' Cup funds into its season-ending races for 2-year-olds, the $100,000 Middleground and $100,000 Silver Spur.

NEW ORLEANS - The unlikely partnership between Hallowed Dreams and her rider, Sylvester Carmouche, apparently has ended. Hallowed Dreams's co-owner and trainer, Lloyd Romero, said Carmouche would be replaced when Hallowed Dreams makes her next start.

MIAMI - Ing Ing should find the competition a lot more to her liking than in her U.S. debut when facing a full field of 3-year-old filly turf specialists in Saturday's $100,000 Frances A. Genter Stakes. The Genter shares top billing on the 12-race Calder program with the $100,000 Kenny Noe Jr. Handicap, a seven-furlong dash for older colts and geldings.

ALBANY, Calif. - Saturday's Gold Rush Stakes at Golden Gate Fields marks Round 2 in what could be a budding rivalry between two of northern California's better 2-year-olds.

Cappuchino, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, will try to win his second straight over Wild Celebration, trained by Bill Morey. Round 1 came in the six-furlong Golden Bear Stakes on Nov. 24 here, when Wild Celebration unexpectedly found himself on the lead and couldn't hold off Cappuchino down the stretch.

Until Crafty Shaw suffered a stress fracture in the April 14 Arkansas Derby, the Mackin family of Louisville thought they might just be a cab ride away from the Kentucky Derby.

The Mackins, whose horses run under the red-and-black silks of the Lucky Seven Stable, are the longtime franchise holders of Yellow Cab Co. in Louisville. Crafty Shaw, who captured the main Arkansas Derby prep, was sidelined by the injury, depriving Ginny Mackin and her five grown children of their first Derby horse.