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.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Halo Alo will be the one to beat at Assiniboia Downs in Sunday's $26,000 North Dakota Futurity, a six-furlong race for 2-year-olds eligible through the North Dakota Thoroughbred Association.

Trained by Blair Miller, Halo Alo won a maiden special in his debut and then followed up with a win in the restricted North Dakota Stallion here Aug. 19.

Rohan Singh will be aboard Halo Alo, who breaks from post 3.

Trainer Ardell Sayler has won the North Dakota Futurity in two of the last three years and will look to improve on that record with Winaferd.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan - A full field of 10 2-year-olds, headed by ship-in Swing in Satin, will compete in Sunday's $27,000 Prairie Lily Sales Stakes at Marquis Downs.

Because she is a filly, Swing in Satin runs for a purse of $36,000 due to an incentive built into the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society's Saskatchewan yearling sale. All horses in the race are graduates of the 2000 sale, and they will compete over about seven furlongs in the richest race on the Marquis Downs calendar.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Quiet Resolve drilled five furlongs in 59.40 seconds on the turf training track at Woodbine Friday morning in his final major tune-up for next Sunday's Atto Mile.

The Atto Mile, a turf race for

3-year-olds and upward, is a Grade 1 stakes with a purse of $1 million.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. ? Dream Run is out, but the Native Dancer Handicap still came up a good race.

With Dream Run, the Florida Derby fourth-place finisher, opting instead for a second-level sprint allowance Sunday at Arlington, the $55,000 Native Dancer, for 3-year-olds at a mile, still drew a good field of eight, led by Compendium, Horrible Evening, and San Pedro.

Mumtaz and Voladora, whose biggest career wins have come at a mile on turf, will meet under those conditions Sunday in the $50,000 Ricks Memorial Handicap at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

Mumtaz comes into the Ricks Memorial off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Eatontown Handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Monmouth Park on Aug. 5. Trainer Tom Amoss shipped Mumtaz, a winner of $370,005, to Oklahoma because of the distance of the Ricks Memorial.

Lady Viriginia, who has won four races from eight starts this year, can become a stakes winner in her turf debut Sunday if she can hold off the powerful closing kick of Chausson Poire in the $50,000 Lyrique Handicap at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies has also drawn Mountain Kitten, third to Chausson Poire in last month's Chapel Belle, and Caustic Remark, third to older rivals in the Margarita Breeders' Cup at Retama Park.