ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - The meticulously scripted plan for Astra will encounter its most difficult hurdle so far this year when she faces eight others Saturday in the $700,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Mott and Bailey - for racing fans, they're linked like thunder and lightning, peanut butter and jelly.

The success trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jerry Bailey have had together, especially teaming up in turf races, is legendary. On Saturday at Arlington Park, Hap joins the team, trying to give both Mott and Bailey their second Arlington Million win. Their Millions came separately, Mott's with Paradise Creek in 1994 and Bailey's with Chester House last year.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - It was way back in March, Frank Gabriel Jr. recalls, that he got a phone call from an old buddy in New Jersey.

"Alzie wanted to know if his horse was an early nominee" to the Secretariat Stakes, said Gabriel, Arlington's vice president for racing.

Yes, Navesink was eligible to the Grade 1 Secretariat. And yes, Alzie will be here Saturday to saddle the colt as a major contender in North America's definitive midsummer race for 3-year-old turf horses.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Although the official decision will not be made until the weekend, it looked likely on Thursday that Point Given would return to the East Coast for the $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

Point Given returned to the track at Del Mar on Thursday morning for the first time since working on Tuesday, and was so eager to train that his trainer, Bob Baffert, remarked, "The Big Red Train is back."

DEL MAR, Calif. - Winning the Grade 2 San Clemente Handicap at Del Mar on July 29 was the perfect spot for Reine de Romance's stakes debut. She had an ideal trip and was clearly best against seven others, drawing off to win by 1 1/2 lengths.

The San Clemente was a key test for Reine de Romance before Saturday's $300,000 Del Mar Oaks, which is shaping up as a vintage running. The Grade 1 Oaks, run over 1 1/8 miles on turf, brings together California's top 3-year-old turf fillies, along with Voodoo Dancer, the division leader from New York.

Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., planned to submit a new video poker license application on Thursday, a day after a district judge ruled the track could not reactivate its 34 machines because spousal information on its renewal application was missing by the deadline for filing.

Failure to comply with state regulations, even though it was deemed inadvertent, led Baton Rouge district judge Jewel Welch Jr. to uphold a Louisiana State Police decision to unplug the track's video poker terminals on July 20.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - All signs point to Broken Vow running a big race in the $350,000 Iselin Handicap on Aug. 26.

Broken Vow earned a 115 Beyer Speed Figure in winning the $75,000 Skip Away Stakes by 5 3/4 lengths two races back on June 30. He returned to win the $100,000 Carpenter Memorial at Delaware Park on July 21.

Broken Vow has been pointing to the 1 1/8-mile Iselin since the Skip Away, which was his first race at Monmouth Park.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Seven of the nine 2-year-olds entered for Saturday's Grade 3 $150,000 Sapling have run at least once over the track, but it is the two invaders that have the best chance to win.

The Sapling, the premier race for 2-year-olds at the meet, has hosted such champions as Buckpasser, Foolish Pleasure, Alydar, and Gilded Time. The race brings in shippers every year to battle the local standouts. Although there is no clear-cut favorite this year, the shippers Truman's Raider and Juggernaut will be bet strongly.

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Flyinghannah, the top 3-year-old Michigan-bred filly last year, will carry top weight of 121 pounds and face nine state-bred fillies and mares in Saturday's $50,000 Moonbeam Handicap at 1 1/16 miles at Great Lakes Downs.

Flyinghannah, a daughter of Sefapiano who is owned and was bred by Leonardi Racing Stable, has won three of her five starts this year, with all three wins coming in local allowance races.

Nuclear Assembly, whose lone career defeat came when he finished second as the favorite in last month's $100,000 Middleground at Lone Star, returns Saturday in the $40,000 Pioneer Stakes at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.

The Pioneer, a 5 1/2-furlong race that drew a field of seven, is the first of several local 2-year-old stakes trainer Brent Davidson has planned for Nuclear Assembly, whose season finale is to come in the $100,000 estimated Friendship here on Nov. 10.