SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While Proud Man is certainly the most accomplished of the nine

3-year-olds entered in Sunday's $100,000 Saranac Handicap at Saratoga, he may also be at his most vulnerable in the Grade 3 race, which is run at 1 3/16 miles on turf.

Proud Man, a winner of four Grade 3 stakes this year, has not been out in 11 weeks, has yet to race beyond nine furlongs and, as the 122-pound highweight, must concede four to 10 pounds to the field.

Those factors give hope to his rival trainers, including Mark Hennig, who sends out Strategic Partner.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Trainer Red Smith finds himself faced with a problem on how to fill in the time for his brilliant Fancy As between the Canadian Derby of Aug. 25 and the B.C. Derby on Sept. 29.

That's a span of five weeks, and there obviously is a need to keep Fancy As sharp for the next big race.

Tentatively, Smith has nominated Fancy As for this Saturday's $100,000 Speed to Spare Championship at Northlands Park.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - A full field of 11 sophomores, all searching for their first win in an added-money event, will square off in Sunday's $35,000 Richmond Derby Trial at Hastings Park. The first few finishers are likely to make their next start in the $200,000 B.C. Derby on Sept. 29.

Kat Dancer has never won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs, but he could be favored in the 1 1/16-mile Derby Trial off his second-place finish to I'm Free in the Mr. Prime Minister Stakes Aug. 19.

AUBURN, Wash. - Canadian star Lasting Code will take on nine local 2-year-old fillies in Sunday's renewal of the one-mile Barbara Shinpoch Stakes at Emerald Downs.

The Barbara Shinpoch, which was formerly known as the WTBA Lassies, was renamed this year to honor the former chair of the Washington Horse Racing Commission, whose steadfast support through the mid-1990's helped make Emerald Downs a reality.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The Del Mar stakes schedule is not a perfect fit for Top of Our Game, who is making her third start of the meeting in Sunday's $125,000 Solana Beach Handicap. But the long-term plans of Top of Our Game's rival may work to her advantage.

ALBANY, Calif. - Jockey Dilip Amarsingh will be sidelined for one to two months as a result of a spill following a morning workout at Golden Gate Fields on Thursday morning.

Amarsingh, who has won 16 races from 176 mounts this year, had just finished working the 3-year-old maiden Bastian Lane, when the horse fractured a sesamoid while pulling up, falling and throwing the rider to the ground.

Amarsingh sustained a broken collarbone and a fractured vertebrae. Bill Delia, who trained Bastian Lane, said the horse was euthanized.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Nepenthe prevailed in a gritty stretch duel to give jockey Chris McCarron and trainer Ron McAnally their first stakes wins of the Del Mar meet in Thursday's $76,050 California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California Handicap.

Winning the first stakes of her career, Nepenthe got an ideal trip from McCarron, who saved ground for most of the race, run over 1 3/8 miles on turf.

Mutafaweq will run in the Man o' War Stakes at Belmont Park on Sept. 8, even though he will have to serve 48 hours in strict quarantine at a United States Department of Agriculture facility in Newburgh, New York.

Oregon horsemen were dealt a major blow on Friday when Magna Entertainment, which operates Portland Meadows, abruptly and unexpectedly announced that Portland's upcoming race meet was being canceled.

The Monmouth Park meet closes Sunday with three stakes on a 10-race card.

The first stakes is the $75,000 Personal Ensign for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Six entered the Personal Ensign, including graded stakes winner Strolling Belle.

Trained by John Kimmel, Strolling Belle has been freshened since finishing sixth as the favorite in the $100,000 Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park on June 24.