POMONA, Calif. - Even while the Los Angeles County Fair race meet faces an uncertain future at Fairplex Park, added ambiguity surrounds the meet's biggest race. Eight older horses entered the $100,000 Ralph M. Hinds Pomona Invitational Handicap, but the complexion will change greatly by post time Sunday.

Budroyale is only 50-50 to start in the about mile and an eighth race. L'Effaceur, winner of the Pomona Derby last year, entered but may run Monday in the 6 1/2-furlong Governor's Cup. Finally, a bruised foot has sidelined Fairplex specialist Native Desert.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Miss Sandy Dee tries to secure honors as the top local older mare Sunday in the $35,000 Matron Stakes here. The 1 1/8-mile race has attracted a field of nine.

Miss Sandy Dee last raced Aug. 5, capturing the Winnipeg Sun for her first stakes victory. Miss Sandy Dee, trained by Patti Ross, probably will be close to the pace Sunday and jockey Rohan Singh should be able to give her a good trip from post 2.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fly for Avie, who was looking to become a repeat winner in next Sunday's Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, will miss the race due to a freak accident and probably is headed back to the breeding shed.

David Bell, who trains the 6-year-old Fly for Avie for owner Ivan Dalos, said the mare was found lame in her stall during a routine evening inspection earlier this week.

"She must have got cast," said Bell. "She hurt herself behind. I just don't feel we can go into the E.P. Taylor if she's not 100 percent; it's not a race to do that with."

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Glorious Linda, who has been racing well in Southern California, looks tough to beat when she faces five other fillies and mares in the $36,000 allowance feature at 1 1/16 miles on the grass at Bay Meadows on Sunday.

Grass or dirt? It didn't matter to Mystic Lady in Friday night's $200,000 Boiling Springs Breeders' Cup at The Meadowlands.

Though heavy rain forced track officials to switch the Grade 3 stakes from turf to dirt, Mystic Lady romped to a front-running 5 1/2-length victory over three rivals.

Sent off a 3-5 favorite, Mystic Lady ($3.20) reeled off fractions of :24, :47 and 1:10 4/5 under jockey Eibar Coa and completed the mile and a sixteenth in 1:42 3/5.

Shooting Party was second, completing a $3.80 exacta. It was 6 3/4 lengths back to Plunderthepeasants in third.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Red Bullet, the 2000 Preakness winner, has a slight muscle tear that will force him to miss next Friday night's Meadowlands Cup and has officially taken him off the Breeders' Cup Classic trail, trainer Joe Orseno said Friday.

Orseno said Red Bullet would now be pointed to the $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct on Nov. 24, the last Grade 1 race of the year in New York. Orseno was hopeful Red Bullet would be brought back as a 5-year-old although owner Frank Stronach will make that decision.

MIAMI - Diablo Reigns, who has quietly blossomed into one of the top 3-year-old turf horses at Calder Race Course, will face older runners in his stakes debut in Sunday's $35,000 Baldski Handicap, an overnight at 1 1/8 miles on the grass.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Though this has not been a strong Arlington Park meet for trainer Danny Miller, there was a bright spot Sept. 8 when his Illinois-bred, Faccia Bella, upset a good field of high-end, open allowance horses at nearly 24-1. Faccia Bella, the star of Miller's stable, returns to action Sunday at Arlington in the $45,000 Unique Type, an overnight handicap.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Sports people call it overachieving. Racetrackers call it outrunning your pedigree. The folks at Turfway Park simply call it wonderful.

What is it? The way the Kentucky Cup continues to produce horses who go on to accomplish greater things. The series - a fall fixture at this modest track since its debut in 1994 - earned plaudits after 2000 Kentucky Cup winners Point Given, Captain Steve, Spain, and Caller One went on to win major races around the globe.

ELMONT, N.Y. - When Bobby Frankel took over the training of Squirtle Squirt earlier this year, he wasn't all that impressed with the colt.

"He wasn't a real comfortable horse to train," Frankel said. "I didn't know how to take it."

Whatever apprehensions Frankel had about the horse in the morning were erased in the afternoon as Squirtle Squirt has put in four solid efforts to become a legitimate contender for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Sprint, part of the World Thorough-bred Championships to be run here Oct. 27.