JAMAICA, N.Y. - Be it the main track or the inner track, Strolling Belle has shown an affinity for Aqueduct, earning five of her nine career victories here between the months of November and December.

Trainer John Kimmel hopes that love affair continues on Saturday when Strolling Belle takes on five rivals in the Grade 3 $100,000, Turnback the Alarm Handicap for fillies and mares at nine furlongs. At 118 pounds, Strolling Belle will be the starting highweight, conceding five to seven pounds to the rest of the field.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Dave Vance was blindsided two Saturdays ago when owner Roger Devenport, through a phone call from Devenport's wife, Betty, informed him that Unbridled Elaine was being taken from his barn. One Saturday later, Unbridled Elaine won the Breeders' Cup Distaff, effectively precluding Vance from earning some $100,000 in commissions.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sam-Son Farm and trainer Mark Frostad have several potential champions in their ranks this year.

Queen's Plate winner Dancethruthedawn is a shoo-in for the Sovereign Award as champion 3-year-old filly, and Only to You has a realistic chance to be voted top turf female.

Mountain Angel will have a big shot at champion older filly or mare honors if she wins Saturday's $191,800 Maple Leaf Stakes at Woodbine. She will be coupled with Catch the Ring in what figures to be a short-priced Sam-Son entry in the 1 1/4-mile event.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Aldorado will attempt to regain his winning stride on Saturday, when he takes on four other $8,000 sprinters over five furlongs in the featured eighth race at Portland Meadows.

Aldorado, a 4-year-old son of Altazarr who races for Seawind Stable and trainer Martin Kenney, won a 6 1/2-furlong race for $10,000 claimers at Emerald Downs in June and anything like that effort would likely be good enough on Saturday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Devil Will Do Ya figures to be a short-priced favorite over six other horses going 1 1/16 miles in a $35,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at Hastings Park Saturday afternoon. This is the final weekend of live racing at Hastings this year, and both Saturday's and Sunday's cards filled with 10 races.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainer Bob Tiller already has had far and away his best year running in stakes, with 11 wins at Woodbine plus the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie.

And while several of his star performers now are done for the season, Tiller still has a couple of stakes bullets left to fire, with Madame Red entered in Saturday's Maple Leaf, and Win City scheduled to conclude his campaign a week later in the Autumn Handicap.

Runaway Magic seems to have a slight class edge over the competition in Saturday night's $25,000 Jiffy Lube Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston. The 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares is the first of 35 stakes to be contested at the meet, and has drawn a well-matched field of 12.

Saratoga Games has had the misfortune of running into a couple of monsters in his last two starts, but in Saturday's $70,000 Mountaineer Mile Handicap at Mountaineer Park his opponents are considerably less scary. Saratoga Games, a 3-year-old making his first start against older horses, is part of a field of 12 in the Mile.

The running line for La Reine's Terms in his last race sure looks ugly. Sent off as the 2-1 favorite in the Maryland Million Turf, La Reine's Terms beat only one horse and finished 18 lengths behind wire-to-wire winner Elberton.

If you watched the replay of the Turf or read the detailed chart notes, however, it's apparent La Reine's Terms had a legitimate alibi.

East Rutherford, N.J. - A 3-year-old filly race at this time of the year is much like a college football all-star game.

Some sure-fire, can't-miss prospects show off one last time before heading into lucrative careers in the pros. Others are making last-ditch attempts to impress against their peers.

A compact group of fillies headed by Mystic Lady will put on a similar show in Friday night's Grade 3, $200,000 Honey Bee Handicap at The Meadowlands.