ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Arlington-Washington Futurity winner Publication worked a half-mile at Arlington on Tuesday, as plans to ship the horse back to his northern California base were scrapped. Instead of returning home after the Sept. 29 Futurity, Publication remains in Chicago, and now is under serious consideration for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, a race his connections initially said he would pass.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Phil Johnson was prepared to return Volponi to the turf in Saturday's Grade 3 Lawrence Realization at Belmont Park. But when the horse suffered an eye injury Tuesday night, the plan was put on hold.

Instead, Johnson now plans to point Volponi to the $250,000 Pegasus Handicap on the main track at the Meadowlands on Oct. 19.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Three horses based at Santa Anita were found on Tuesday and Wednesday to have sponges in their nasal passages, according to an official familiar with the California Horse Racing Board's investigation. All three discoveries were made before the horses raced.

MIAMI - With a purse of only $100,000, the Spend a Buck Handicap isn't one of the more lucrative stakes on Saturday's rich Festival of the Sun program.

Nonetheless, the race has drawn a field that includes Grade 1 winners Sir Bear and Hal's Hope, the injury-plagued but extremely talented Best of the Rest, the veteran Dancing Guy, and the up-and-coming High Ideal. The combination makes the Spend a Buck possibly the most competitive and classy event on the 13-race card.

Sam Houston Race Park in Houston, which last year experimented with an afternoon post for Texas Champions Day, will revert to a night post for this year's Dec. 1 running of the $650,000 program of statebred stakes. First post will be 5 p.m.

In conjunction with Texas Champions Day, track officials are planning several events. There will be a two-day equine expo on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; a golf tournament; and a new owners seminar. Sam Houston opens for 82 nights of racing Nov. 1.

The Texas Racing Commission has approved a management contract between Lone Star Park, near Dallas, and Saddle Brook Park, a yet-to-be-constructed Class 2 racing facility in Amarillo, Texas.

Lone Star Park was tabbed to manage the track this summer when Saddle Brook officials announced their plans to build a combined track and amphitheater in Amarillo.

Also during its meeting Monday, the commission approved a proposition wager for the American Quarter Horse Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship at Lone Star on Nov. 2.

ANDERSON, Ind. - Jockey Rodney Prescott won four races from nine mounts last Friday on Indiana Oaks night.

Prescott started off with a $94.80 upset aboard Cocoa Light for trainer Randy Klopp in the second race. The longshot keyed a 6-4 daily double worth $715.20. Prescott won the third, again for Klopp, aboard 3-2 favorite Livewire. In the sixth he guided Win Sucka Win ($12.60) to victory for trainer Kim Hammond. In the seventh he won aboard Talented Won ($20.60).

COLLINSVILLE, Ill. - Six-year-old Glit has put together an amazing run here the last two years. Through the end of 1999, his 4-year-old year, Glit had a record of three wins from 15 starts. But since then he has gone 15 for 20 for trainer Ralph Martinez and owner Louis O'Brien.

Glit has blazing early speed and many of his wins have come at between four and 5 1/2 furlongs, and at the $4,000 to $5,000 level.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Under a typical Pat Day ride, odds-on favorite Nasty Storm fought off several challenges Wednesday at Keeneland before going on to win the $109,900 Raven Run Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Nasty Storm, trained by Dallas Stewart, was always prominent after breaking sharply from post 2 in the seven-furlong Raven Run. She dueled through the early stages with Forest Secrets, then had plenty left when Hattiesburg made a sustained outside bid in early stretch. She won by 1 1/2 lengths, paying $3.60 after finishing seven furlongs in 1:23.30 over a fast track.

Gender and surface are key issues Friday night at The Meadowlands, as One Eyed Joker and Summer Colony head of field of 12 in the $75,000 Rutgers Stakes at 1 3/8 miles on the turf.

Summer Colony, a 3-year-old filly trained by Mark Hennig and to be ridden by Eibar Coa, comes into the Rutgers off back-to-back smashing victories in first- and second-level allowance races at Belmont and Saratoga. But both wins were on the main track.