ARCADIA, Calif. - The California Cup Mile would seem odd without Native Desert.

On Saturday, for the fourth consecutive year, Native Desert starts in the $175,000 California Cup Mile at Santa Anita. He is the likely favorite as the stronger half of an entry with Ringaskiddy, the winner of the Quicken Tree Stakes at Hollywood Park last spring.

Native Desert's form shows he is as sharp as he was when he finished third in the 1998 Mile, won the 1999 running, and finished a strong second in 2000. (He was also eighth in the 1997 Cal Cup Sprint).

ARCADIA, Calif. - Fourteen fillies and mares will scream down the hill in the $150,000 California Cup Distaff (race 6) on Saturday at Santa Anita, including a filly who enters the 6 1/2-furlong turf race as possibly the most profitable gamble on the Cal Cup card.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The decision by racing officials to move two of the three starter handicaps on Saturday's California Cup program from the main track to turf has resulted in larger fields than last year's.

The $50,000 Distaff Starter Handicap over 1 1/8 miles on turf is the day's first race and has drawn 11 entrants. Last year, the same race had seven starters. The $50,000 Starter Handicap over 1 1/4 miles on turf has 10 entrants in the fourth race compared to six starters last year.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Excessive Prayer, who won her maiden race in the Courtship Stakes, heads a contentious band of 10 2-year-old fillies entered in the $60,000-added Bam's Penny Stakes. The six-furlong sprint goes as the ninth race on Saturday's 10-race program.

Excessive Prayer finished second in the first two starts of her career. She was second in a maiden race at Sacramento in August after taking up sharply on the turn. She came back in another maiden race at Bay Meadows in September and again finished second.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - She has done it in Ohio. She has done it in Illinois. On Saturday, after two defeats in two starts at Churchill Downs, Joanies Bella will try to finally win a race in Kentucky as one of the favorites in the $100,000 Pocahontas Stakes.

STICKNEY, Ill. - A length here, a neck there, and Where's Taylor would be hailed as one of the best middle-distance turf horses in the country. What Where's Taylor has accomplished - eight wins and a $613,000 bankroll - is nothing to scoff at. But surely his connections can almost taste what might have been.

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.