NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Mercer's Launch, third in the Tah Dah Stakes in her last start here July 21, should be favored Saturday at Thistledown, matching strides with five other Ohio-bred 2-year-old fillies in the $30,000 Emerald Necklace Stakes.

Mercer's Launch won at first asking at River Downs, then was unplaced here in the Cleveland Kindergarten before her race in the Tah Dah. She has the speed to be on or near the lead and should prove hard to chase down. Jason Eads rides for trainer Jeffrey M.Williams.

Iowa-bred Nut N Better heads a field of five entered in Saturday's $50,000, 1 1/16-mile Central Iowa Stakes for fillies and mares at Prairie Meadows.

Nut N Better was Iowa's 3-year-old filly champion in 2000 and has had another good year in 2001 with a record of 3-2-1 from eight starts, and more than $134,000 in earnings. Nut N Better comes off a second-place finish against Iowa-breds in the $75,000 Donna Reed here at 1 mile and 70 yards on Sept. 1, beaten 4 1/2 lengths by loose-on-the-lead Sumthintotalkabout.

MIAMI - Many of the 2-year-olds in Saturday's $100,000 Foolish Pleasure Stakes and its filly counterpart, the Brave Raj, are using the races as preps for the rich finales of the Florida Stallion Stakes series three weeks down the road. But there will be no holding back for Juggernaut, who figures to be favored in the one mile and 70 yard Foolish Pleasure.

SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. - Live racing returns to Atokad Park Saturday for the first time since October 1997 with a one-day meet featuring eight races and purses of more than $125,000. The track opened in mid-February of this year to offer full-card simulcasting.

FLORENCE, Ky. - After seven years of calling the Kentucky Cup their "$1.15 million day of champions," Turfway officials have been rather quiet about the monetary value of this eighth running of the Cup.

That's because purses have been downsized for the Cup races. The total payout Saturday will be a maximum of $950,000. When any horse ineligible for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund or not nominated to the Breeders' Cup finishes in the top four spots, bonuses for those programs go uncollected.

FLORENCE, Ky. - Surely no one could have predicted the manner in which the Kentucky Cup has become a producer of top sprinters. Since its 1994 inaugural, the $150,000 Kentucky Cup Sprint has yielded exceptionally good horses, from Lord Carson and Appealing Skier to Reraise and Caller One.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - The company Northcote Road has kept this season sets him apart from his 13 rivals in the $100,000 Louisiana Downs Handicap on Saturday.

Northcote Road is the 119-pound highweight for the 1 1/16-mile turf race, which has also drawn Maysville Slew, who was nosed out in a photo in this race a year ago. Also in the field is Nat's Big Party, who has won two regional stakes in his last three starts, including the $100,000 Independence Breeders' Cup Turf at Louisiana Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The Highlander Handicap, which is run on the same Sept. 30 program as two Canadian Grade 1's, the Canadian International and E.P. Taylor Stakes, seldom gets the attention that it deserves.

And that could be a particularly unfortunate oversight this year, as the Grade 3, $150,000 Highlander is shaping up as a particularly fascinating exercise.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Lord Nelson figures to be a short price as he goes for his fourth straight stakes win at Hastings Park on Saturday in the $35,000 Sir Winston Churchill Stakes. The 1 1/8-mile feature attracted a field of seven older horses, including Kid Katabatic, who is looking for his first win of the year.

EDMONTON, Alberta - While Timely Ruckus will be in the spotlight in the Red Diamond Express, the best race of Saturday's Northlands Park card could be the $50,000 Fall Classic Distaff for older fillies and mares.

An indication of the competitiveness of the race was apparent when Alan Bott, the Northlands racing secretary, made five horses the co-highweights at 118 pounds.

Among that group is Little Lolitta, a 3-year-old who has already won more than $113,000 this year.