Oceanport, N.J. - Ben Perkins Jr. is poised to defend his leading trainer title in this final week of racing at Monmouth, and will try to use the biggest race of the weekend here to help close the deal.

The Perkins-trained Colleen Stakes winner Forest Heiress will be the likely top choice Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Sorority for 2-year-old fillies. She will be looking to build on one of the most powerful performances of any horse this summer when she took the Colleen by 6 1/4 lengths and pushed her record to 2 for 2.

The inaugural meet at Yavapai Downs is winding down, with the final day of live racing on Tuesday.

Yavapai Downs turned up the heat last week by scheduling three stakes.

Roberto's Lion, under Anna Barrio, won Saturday's George Goswick Memorial. Trained by Raul Hernandez, who is in the running for leading trainer honors at the meet, Roberto's Lion covered the 870 yards in a snappy 44.86 seconds.

Sport d'Hiver shaved a few hundredths of a second off the turf course record at Philadelphia Park for about five furlongs while winning last Sunday's sixth race.

A 9-year-old gelding trained by Gaston Sandoval, Sport d'Hiver covered the distance - estimated because the rail was set out 22 feet from its original position - in 56.61 seconds. Devereux set the old record of 56.67 on July 25, 2000.

It was the 17th career win for Sport d'Hiver and boosted his career earnings to just over $400,000.

A steady diet of short fields, the powerful stable of Cole Norman, and the season-long roll that Kirk LeBlanc has been on has chalk players getting fat at the midway point of the meeting at Louisiana Downs.

The public choices have been winning at a 40 percent clip during the first 40 days of the season. Norman has been responsible for many, as the three-time defending champ is well on his way to another title. The barn has won 49 races from 136 starters for a remarkable 36 percent.

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Jockey Mary Doser, leading rider at Great Lakes Downs in the 1999 inaugural meeting, had a four-bagger Monday, including a win in the $50,000 Michigan Breeders' Governor's Cup Handicap aboard That Monetary ($16.40).

That Monetary, a 6-year-old son of Monetary Gift and That's My Gal, got up late to win by a neck over his full brother, the 4-year-old That Gift, who is twice a Michigan champion. The winning time of 1:47.28 was a track record for 1 1/16 miles.

Three horses finished heads apart in Tuesday's $15,000, one-mile Spend a Buck Handicap for 3-year-old colts and geldings at Fairmount Park.

De Ghost ($30.20) snuck through on the inside under Steve Capeles to be up at the wire. American Czar just missed in second and heavily favored W W Robin de Hood was third in a game effort. Trained by Sue Irion, De Ghost got the mile in 1:41.0 for his second career win.

Also on Tuesday, Vincente Flores rode three winners to take a 93-92 lead over Tommy Pompeii in the rider standings. Pompeii has been riding at Ellis Park since July.

COLUMBUS, Neb. - Don Herber, fourth in the standings at Columbus with 10 wins, received a 30-day suspension last Friday for the presence of a controlled substance in his system, effectively ending his meet here.

Alejandro "Alex" Granda arrived from Canterbury Park last week and collected two wins over the weekend.

Jorge Collazo Jr. arrives this weekend from Prairie Meadows to boost a colony that has less than 15 active riders.

One-time stakes star Phantom on Tour, attempting a comeback after being sidelined for nearly three years, didn't fare well in his return to the races.

Entered in a six-furlong optional claiming sprint for a tag of $14,000 last Friday night at Penn National, Phantom on Tour beat only one horse in a nine-horse field.

MUSKEGON, Mich. - Empress Livia, winner of the Ann Arbor Stakes, will be looking for her fourth consecutive victory when she takes on seven 3-year-old fillies in the $25,000 Mona Lake Stakes Friday evening at Great Lakes Downs.

Empress Livia, from the barn of meet-leading trainer Gerald Bennett and owned by Elizabeth Weber, started her career here this spring, and it took her four races to win her maiden.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. - Praise the Prince, who has been nearly unbeatable over both the flat and the hurdles since first trying the fences during the spring of 2000, will be an overwhelming favorite to add to his already impressive resume - despite going postward under a staggering 160 pounds - in Thursday's $100,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Hurdle Handicap at 2 3/8 miles. The Grade 1 race is the highlight of Saratoga's 2001 steeplechase schedule.