OMAHA, Neb. - It must be summer time in Omaha again . . .

The weather has turned decidedly hot; construction crews are putting the finishing touches on improvements at Horsemen's Park, and a few horses are out for morning gallops over the five-eighths-mile oval.

The track, owned and operated by the Nebraska Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, launches its fourth year of live racing Friday, keeping alive the tradition of racing in Omaha that dates back to the 1930's. The old standard of Nebraska racing, Ak-Sar-Ben, has been shuttered since 1995.

MIAMI - Gulfstream Park, in Hallandale Beach, will present the richest stakes schedule in Florida history, a program worth more than $7.2 million, during its expanded 2002 meeting. The 2002 meet will run 90 days, from Jan. 3 through April 24. Before the deregulation of racing dates in the state, the Gulfstream winter session had traditionally consisted of 63 cards and ended on March 16.

The $500,000 Meadowlands Cup will headline a stakes schedule featuring nine races worth a total of $1.7 million at the upcoming 49-day Meadowlands meet, which begins September 3, and runs through November 10.

The Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds and up on Sept. 28 will highlight the meet along with the Grade 2 $250,000 Pegasus Handicap at 1 1/8 miles for 3-year-olds on Oct. 19. The $500,000 Meadowlands Cup purse represents a $100,000 upgrade from last year's purse of $400,000.

Gov. George Pataki signed legislation Tuesday that will allow the New York Racing Association to lower takeouts beginning with the upcoming Saratoga meet.

As of July 25, opening day at Saratoga, takeouts for win, place, and show wagers at NYRA tracks will drop from 15 percent to 14 percent. Takeouts on exactas, quinellas, and daily doubles will drop from 20 percent to 17.5 percent, and the takeout on pick six wagers on non-carryover days will drop from 25 percent to 20 percent.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Kent Desormeaux did not even allow himself to be named on mounts the last two days at Hollywood Park. He wanted to get to Del Mar early, planting seeds of encouragement in the stables here, because, as he admits, "I've got a tough row to hoe."

Desormeaux rode in Japan for most of the past three months. With the exception of two trips home to ride Astra in stakes races at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park, he was gone. Now he has returned, hoping, he said, "that the enthusiasm I have at being a jockey again will be displayed in my riding.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Beat All has not won a race for more than two years. Sestino has not even raced for nearly two years, and has not won a race for more than three years. Yet these two turf runners, both of whom are seeking to return to the form that put them in Group 1 company early in their careers in Europe, give trainer Neil Drysdale a powerful one-two punch in Thursday's Kobuk King Stakes, highlight of day two of Del Mar's summer season.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Louie Roussel's sharp comeback horse Kris's Sleigh faces Reno Rumble, who regained his form a month ago, and seven other rivals in Arlington's Thursday feature. The allowance race, at about 1 1/16 miles on turf, offers an attractive $52,000 purse that has brought out a field of quality.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Babae and Zeiting, less than a length apart when they last met, return as the top choices at Belmont Park in Thursday's $54,000 feature at one mile over the Widener turf.

The money allowance, which also carries a nonwinners-of-four-other-than condition, drew seven fillies and mares, plus three main-track-only entries.

DEL MAR, Calif. - The last time Budroyale raced, in the 2000 Pimlico Special, few had even heard of his little brother. But much has changed since then. Two weeks later, his younger brother Tiznow won his maiden. Tiznow went on, of course, to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, and be named Horse of the Year.

Cole Norman is in the house. The trainer, who has won the last three training titles at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., goes to serious work to secure his fourth on Thursday when he sends out eight starters in seven races, including Cashel Palace in the feature, a five-furlong turf allowance worth $22,000.