AUBURN, Wash. - Emerald Downs will close its 91-day meeting on Monday with one of the most attractive match-ups of the season, a head-to-head clash between Makors Mark and Kittys Link in the $60,000 Washington Championship at 1 1/16-miles.

Makors Mark, who will carry a highweight package of 123 pounds with Gary Baze aboard, figures to go off as the favorite in a field of seven older Washington-breds.

PHOENIX, Ariz. - For some horses it's a matter of maturity. For others it's finding their niche. It appears Dena's Diamond has found both, and the resulting strong form sends her into Monday's featured CTBA Marian Stakes at Fairplex as the likely favorite. The 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-old California-bred fillies offers a purse of $50,000 and has lured a field of

five.

Nasty Storm did all the chasing Saturday before finally wearing down odds-on Hidden Assets to capture the $75,000 Weekend Delight Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Ridden by Jon Court, Nasty Storm overtook Hidden Assets inside the sixteenth pole in the six-furlong Weekend Delight, then edged away to prevail by a length. She returned $6.20 as second choice in a field of six fillies and mares after finishing in 1:09.94 over a fast track.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Lightly trained or not, Snow Dance was by far the best horse in Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Pucker Up Stakes at Arlington.

While trainer John Ward said before the Pucker Up that Snow Dance's primary goal this fall is the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes next month at Keeneland, and that he had not pushed her to make the Pucker Up, Snow Dance still had no trouble disposing of 12 rivals in the nine-furlong turf race.

MIAMI, Fla. - The rains which left Calder's main track

a sea of slop for several days last week and has

closed the turf course indefinitely are gone, dampening the spirits of the

connections of I Love Chicago and Link to Jimmy, a

pair of wet-track specialists who may still vie for

favoritism in Monday's $28,000 optional-claiming-allowance feature.

I Love Chicago has posted his two most recent

victories over sloppy tracks including an impressive 2

3/4-length decision over Golden Concorde here on July

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Queen's Plate runner-up Win City overcame a slow pace to prevail as the heavy favorite in Saturday's Grade 3, $107,600 Col. R. S. McLaughlin Handicap for 3-year-olds at Woodbine.

Win City was making his first start since July 22, when he won the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie.

POMONA, Calif. - While undefeated Expected Program will be heavily favored Sunday in the $100,000 Barretts Juvenile Stakes at Fariplex Park, others see the six-and-a-half-furlong sprint as more than a one-horse race. That includes Paul Assinesi, trainer of potential upsetter Holdthehelm.

"Expected Program should be odds-on, but he's never really run the turns that well," Assenisi noted, "you just hope you're drawn inside him." Fairplex is a five-eighths mile track. Unfortunately for Assinesi, Holdtheheld drew post 6 while Expected Program drew post 3.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. The Grade 2 winner Fan Club's Mister would be a standout in most $45,000 Illinois-bred handicaps, but in Sunday's feature at Arlington he's just one of three logical contenders. Along with Minor Wisdom and Reno Rumble, Fan Club's Mister forms a powerful top end in the Tex's Zing Handicap, a handicap race for Illinois-breds to be run at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Devastating and Moonlight Affair, who finished first and second, respectively, in the Aug. 1 Eternal Search Stakes on dirt, will renew their rivalry on turf in Sunday's $129,375 La Prevoyante, a one-mile Ontario sire stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Devastating won two straight allowance races in the spring before finishing a dull sixth in the $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks. Trainer Robbie King Jr. attributed the sub-par showing to a tight schedule.

MIAMI, Fla. - Wild Imagination, a 7-year-old who proved to be one of the better claims of the Saratoga meet, will make his local debut against six rivals, including the promising 3-year-old Marco's Word, in Sunday's $30,000 feature. The 1 1/16-mile race will be decided under optional claiming conditions.