ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wagering from all sources on Woodbine's 165-day Thoroughbred meeting was $344 million, a healthy increase from the $293 million wagered last year.

The Woodbine Entertainment Group, in a press release Thursday, noted the daily average handle from all sources on live Woodbine racing was $2,085,756, an increase of 14 percent over last year.

Wagering from United States sources continued to rise, with this year's total reaching $106 million, up from $80 million last year. Telephone account wagering contributed $12 million, up from $10 million in 2000.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - In the last four years, Bob Baffert has dominated the Hollywood Futurity like no trainer before in the race's 20-year history.

Baffert won the Futurity three times in the last four years - with Real Quiet (1997), Captain Steve (1999), and Point Given (2000). In Saturday's running, he will have as many as three starters.

Baffert hopes that Hawk's Top Gun or Mountain Rage or Popular will give him a fourth Futurity winner, and tie him with D. Wayne Lukas for most Futurity victories by a trainer.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - Xtra Heat, who would have been the odds-on favorite in Saturday's $75,000 Garland of Roses Handicap, was scratched from that race on Friday because of a cough.

Trainer John Salzman said Xtra Heat coughed a couple of times before she was to train Friday morning at Laurel Park.

"She also left a handful of feed which she never does,' Salzman said.

Since she did not have a high temperature, Xtra Heat did train Friday morning, but was heard to cough eight times while galloping, according to Salzman. Xtra Heat was also coughing while she cooled out.

MIAMI - The steeplechase set will be out in force Sunday at Calder with a pair of races carded over the fences, including the third running of the Grade 3, $50,000 Tropical Park Steeplechase Handicap.

The Tropical Park Steeplechase has been the final race on the National Steeplechase Association's stakes schedule since its inception in 1999. Sunday will be the first time that Calder will present a second jump race on its program, a conditioned allowance with a $25,000 purse. Both steeple-chase races will be decided at 2 1/4 miles.

NEW ORLEANS - It's not exactly as trainer Neil Howard planned, but a race on turf will have to do. Rock Slide, a late-blooming 3-year-old colt that Howard hopes will become a force in the handicap ranks next year, makes his Fair Grounds debut Sunday in a third-level turf allowance.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Successful jockeys generally have outstanding physical attributes, such as agile hands, strong legs, terrific balance, and keen vision.

Jockey Jimmy Lopez has been blessed with all of those, along with another outstanding attribute: good ears.

"Being able to listen and put what you've heard into into your riding, that's a big thing," said Lopez.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wagering from all sources on Woodbine's 165-day Thoroughbred meeting has checked in at $344 million, a healthy increase from the $293 million total last year.

The Woodbine Entertainment Group, in a press release late Thursday afternoon, noted the daily average handle from all sources on live Woodbine racing was $2,085,756, an increase of 14 percent.

JAMAICA, N.Y. - It remains to be seen if her nine stakes wins this year and runner-up performance in the Breeders' Cup Sprint will be enough to earn Xtra Heat an Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding 3-year-old filly.

But her trainer, John Salzman, may have earned the award for understatement of the year when talking about his speedy filly's chances in Saturday's $75,000 Garland of Roses Handicap at Aqueduct.

"At least we have a little better shot than we did against those colts," Salzman said.

MIAMI - Tijiyr, whose ascent to the upper echelon of the handicap turf division was sidetracked by a chipped ankle earlier this season, will try to take a big step back toward the top when he faces 11 rivals in Saturday's $100,000 Tropical Turf Handicap. The 1 1/8-mile, Grade 3 Tropical Turf highlights the 12-race Grand Slam I program, which also includes the $100,000 My Charmer Handicap, the $100,000 Three Ring Stakes, and the $100,000 What a Pleasure Stakes.

NEW ORLEANS - A day showcasing Louisiana-breds would have a gaping hole if the best Louisiana-bred in training were absent. Though she raced only a week ago, Hallowed Dreams will make her second Louisiana Champions Day appearance when she heads the $100,000 Champions Day Sprint on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Besides the short down time, Hallowed Dreams faces another serious challenge, Kettle Man, winner of all four of his races this year and the dominant sprinter this summer at Louisiana Downs.