FERNDALE, Calif. - The 45th running of northern California's longest summer stakes event - the 1 5/8-mile Humboldt County Marathon Handicap - will share the spotlight with a racing legend, the mule Black Ruby, as the 105th Humboldt Fair closes its most successful season ever, on Sunday.

Trainer Fred Costa will be in search of his third Marathon victory when he sends out stakes-winning 3-year-old Ironman Dehere in the Fair's premier event, in which runners must cross the finish line four times on this tight-turned, half-mile oval.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - If Chris Block were the type of trainer who liked to take shots with his horses, Ioya Two would be running at Arlington on Saturday. Because Block is not, Ioya Two starts Sunday, in the $60,000-added Reluctant Guest Stakes.

Ioya Two, winner of the Grade 3 Modesty in her last race, is part of a strong nine-horse field entered in the Reluctant Guest, which is run at 1 1/16 miles on turf. She should rule a fairly narrow favorite over good turf fillies like Watch, Golden Antigua, Lady of Peace, and Flinch.

A full field of 12 Ohio-bred fillies and mares, including last year's winner, Cabot Cove, will compete in the $50,000 Vivacious Handicap at River Downs. The Vivacious, the last turf stakes of the meet, will be run at

1 1/16 miles.

The top three finishers from the Aug. 5 Ms. Southern Ohio Stakes should receive most of the betting support. Doubly Fun wore down the front-running Shamrock Slew two weeks ago, the second consecutive year in which Shamrock Slew lost the Ms. Southern Ohio in the final furlong.

Wild Gear and Dancing Dreams, who have a history of winning more races than they lose, meet in the $40,000 Rebel at Louisiana Downs on Sunday. The 5 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies has drawn eight others, including the stakes-placed Sea Bag and Go and Look.

Wild Gear won the first four races of her career by a combined 13 3/4 lengths, including the Manor Downs Futurity over male rivals, before finishing sixth, beaten less than two lengths, in a division of the $150,000 Texas Thoroughbred Association Sales Futurity in June.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - I'm Free will be looking for his fifth stakes win of the meet in the $35,000 Mr. Prime Minister, and six 2-year-olds, none of them stakes winners, will square off in the $35,000 New Westminster Stakes at Hastings Park. The two Sunday races are at 6 1/2 furlongs.

I'm Free, trained by Henry Miller Jr. and Beverly Green, has won four of the five stakes at

EDMONTON, Alberta - The 2000 Alberta Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale graduates hope to show off their talents in Sunday's Sales Stakes at Northlands Park.

The colts and geldings and the fillies will each shoot for $50,000 in their divisions, both at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Dance Me Free, who won the Edmonton Juvenile on Aug. 1 for trainer Sid Gray, heads a field of nine in the colts' division but has drawn the outside post. Peter Wong retains the mount.

AUBURN, Ore. - The $100,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Distaff, the $20,000 Chinook Pass Owners' Handicap and the $20,000 Longacres Mile Consolation head an enticing supporting card for Sunday's 66th renewal of the Grade 3 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

The first thing to notice about the seven-horse field for the one-mile Emerald Breeders' Cup Distaff is that neither Run a Copy nor Grooms Derby is in it. The second thing to do is to run to the windows and bet all you can afford on Fleet Pacific.

AUBURN, Wash. - The arrival of Irisheyesareflying from Southern California early on Saturday morning completes a strong 10-horse field for Sunday's Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - It was a surprise to see I'm Free show up among the horses entered in the 6 1/2-furlong Mr. Prime Minister Stakes this Sunday. After his third straight win at a middle distance in the Stallion Stakes Aug, 5, his trainer, Henry Miller Jr., said that I'm Free's next start would be in the $125,000 Emerald Breeders' Cup Derby on Sept. 9.

AUBURN, Wash. - Dave Forster has won practically every race worth winning in the Northwest since he began training at Hastings Park in 1954, and he has won most of them several times.

The exception is a notable one, however. Forster has never won the Grade 3, $250,000 Longacres Mile, which will be run for the 66th time at Emerald Downs on Sunday. Forster tried the Mile in 1982 and 1983 with Wander Kind, in 1988 with Taylor, and in 1998 with You've Got Action, but all ran off the board.