DEL MAR, Calif. - With a crowd of adoring fans watching his every move, and many capturing the moment with their cameras, Point Given was paraded in the paddock and on the track on Wednesday afternoon, closing day at Del Mar.

Point Given was retired last week after injuring a tendon in his left front leg. He had not raced in California since the Santa Anita Derby, so this was a way for local fans to see the colt who, after beginning his racing career last summer at Del Mar, developed into the best 3-year-old in the land.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Already established as one of the most important meets of any year, this fall's Belmont Park session - which begins its 37-day run on Friday - takes on added significance because Belmont will host the World Thoroughbred Championships on Oct. 27.

The championships consist of eight races with total purses worth $13 million, highlighted by the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic. This will be the third time, and first since 1995, that Belmont will host the Breeders' Cup series.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Victor Espinoza on Wednesday was suspended for two days and fined $2,000 by Del Mar's stewards, the latest action against the jockey for whipping a horse on the flank and causing a break in the skin.

Espinoza was cited for his ride on Rafid in the first race Aug. 26. Espinoza had been warned and fined earlier this meet, and had previously incurred a one-day suspension, which he appealed. He was ordered to serve the latest suspension on Sept. 26-27, the first two days of Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting.

Purse levels and ontrack handle and attendance remained virtually the same as last year at the 2001 Ellis Park summer meet that ended Monday. Meanwhile, all-sources handle rose 5.5 percent to over $125.6 million, for an average of more than $3 million per day at the 41-day meet.

Daily purses averaged $188,546, down less than one-half of 1 percent from last year. Average attendance of just over 2,900 was up less than 1 percent, while average ontrack handle of just over $400,000 (including whole-card imports) also was up less than 1 percent.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Still basking in the success of Macho Uno's victory in Monday's Pennsylvania Derby, trainer Joe Orseno now looks to Red Bullet to keep things rolling in Saturday's Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park.

Like Macho Uno on Monday, Red Bullet will be making just his second start of the year in the Woodward. Unlike Macho Uno, who lost his seasonal debut, Red Bullet is coming off a victory in a seven-furlong allowance race at Saratoga on July 28.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Tiznow has seven weeks to do this year what he accomplished in five weeks a year ago.

Last year, Tiznow was an up-and-coming 3-year-old who rode victories in the Super Derby, Goodwood Handicap, and Breeders' Cup Classic to a divisional championship and Horse of the Year honors.

POMONA, Calif. - More than 1,000 Thoroughbreds are stabled at Fairplex Park, and Los Angeles County Fair racing secretary Richard Wheeler expects a busy entry box. "The barn area will be full, so it's just a matter of people entering and running," Wheeler said Wednesday morning.

A conspicuous absence from Friday's opening-day card was Quarter Horses and Appaloosas. "There just aren't as many mixed-breed horses," Wheeler said.

POMONA, Calif. - The turns are so tight on Fairplex Park's five-eighths mile track that "sometimes you have to be lucky to get around there," noted trainer Paddy Gallagher.

Most of the time, however, you only need the best horse. The Los Angeles County Fair meet opens Friday for 18 consecutive days of racing, and Gallagher's front-runner Coil N Strike will try to make his own luck in the traditional opening-day feature, the $50,000 Foothill Stakes for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs.

EDMONTON, Alberta - Northlands Park race fans got another view of the future over the Labor Day weekend, as potential 2002 Canadian Derby candidates ran Saturday in the $50,000 Birdcatcher for 2-year-old colts and geldings at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Duplicating a feat performed by Fancy As, this year's Canadian Derby winner Dance Me Free pulled off a lucrative double, adding a victory in the Birdcatcher to his Edmonton Juvenile win here Aug. 1.

AUBURN, Wash. - A $105,000 Fit to Fight colt and a $100,000 Smart Strike filly topped Tuesday's Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association summer yearling sale.

In all, 136 yearlings sold for $2,404,400. The average price of $17,679 was down 14 percent from last year's sale, which was held in conjunction with a dispersal of 505 Farms horses that attracted many well-heeled buyers.