EDMONTON, Alberta - With his handicap star Rancour already in line for year-end laurels, trainer Ernie Keller will send out 8-year-old Timely Ruckus to lay claim to another championship Saturday at Northlands Park in the $40,000 Red Diamond Express.

Timely Ruckus, packing 124 pounds, including his regular pilot, Stephan Heiler, takes a winning streak of three into this 6 1/2-furlong sprint. The Red Diamond Express is one of seven stakes races on Alberta Fall Classic Day, which showcases the Alberta breeding industry.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - Until Sundown is not as accomplished as Tiznow, but he is following in the reigning Horse of the Year's hoofprints.

Until Sundown has taken the same road to this year's Grade 1, $500,000 Super Derby that Tiznow did last year, when he won the 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-olds by six lengths before going on to capture the Breeders' Cup Classic.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - With the smoldering remains of the World Trade Center visible on the Eastern horizon, The Meadowlands brought racing back to the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area Tuesday night for the first time since the terrorist attacks a week earlier.

A subdued crowd of 4,921 bet $471,321 on track as a part of a total handle of $1,463,127 for the nine-race card.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Graded stakes winner Atelier makes her return to the races Friday at Belmont Park, topping a field of six fillies and mares in a money allowance, which goes as the seventh on the card. The race, worth $54,000, will be run at seven furlongs on the main track.

POMONA, Calif. - Inflexible front-runner Southern House and campaign-toughened Mimi's Cafe collide Friday in the $100,000 Las Madrinas Handicap at Fairplex Park. Ten fillies and mares entered the 1 1/16-mile race in which the current form of the principals stands out.

CHICAGO - After undergoing a sea change this year, Chicago's Thoroughbred racing basically was kept intact Wednesday when the Illinois Racing Board handed down a 2002 racing schedule.

The year begins with dark months in January and February before the National Jockey Club meet starts the racing season at Sportsman's Park on March 1, followed by a short meet at Hawthorne, a long meet at Arlington through the summer months and into the fall, and another two-month meet at Hawthorne.

ELMONT, N.Y. - It was business as usual at Belmont Park when it reopened Wednesday for the first time since Sept. 9, two days before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C.

Wednesday's card was conducted under sunny skies and drew a crowd of 5,436, up from last year's attendance of 4,133 on the corresponding day. Belmont's ontrack handle was $1,188,486, compared with $819,380 wagered last year.

Balto Star, the speedy 3-year-old who romped to a record victory in the Spiral Stakes in March, will attempt to become the first horse to sweep the two signature events at Turfway Park when he starts Saturday in the $400,000 Kentucky Cup Classic.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Shane Sellers said Wednesday his injured knee has left his future as a jockey in grave jeopardy, and that doctors have told him he may be forced to retire. Sellers last rode Sept. 9 in the Atto Mile at Woodbine, a day after he surprised Arlington onlookers by saying he would leave the jockey colony here and go home to Louisville, where his knee would be re-examined.

Touch Tone will miss at least six months of racing including the Grade 1, $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., on Sunday after his connections discovered a bone chip in his right knee. He is believed to have sustained the injury last Sunday during his final workout for the Super Derby, and is to undergo surgery to remove the chip in Kentucky, said Tom Durant the colt's owner.