LEXINGTON, Ky. - Turfway Park received approval Tuesday from the Kentucky Racing Commission to move its popular Kentucky Cup Day from Saturday, Sept. 15, to Saturday, Sept. 22.

The commission also approved a plan from Kentucky Downs - which cards only grass races - to move its Kentucky Cup Turf Festival from Saturday, Sept. 15, to Sunday, Sept. 23, in order to hold the grass races on the same weekend that Turfway hosts the Kentucky Cup dirt contests.

"We plan to promote a 'super weekend' between the two tracks," said Ryan Driscoll, general manager of Kentucky Downs.

Aptitude, who won Sunday's Hollywood Gold Cup via disqualification, will be part of a 17-horse contingent that trainer Bobby Frankel will have this summer at Saratoga. But Frankel said that Aptitude is unlikely to run July 28 in the $750,000 Whitney Handicap, Saratoga's premier race for older horses, and will instead await the $200,000 Saratoga Breeders' Cup Handicap on Aug. 19.

An infestation of army worms on the Monmouth Park turf course has put grass racing on indefinite hold at the New Jersey racetrack.

The worms were spotted last weekend, according to Monmouth Park officials, and the course began receiving treatments of pesticides on Monday. Monmouth did not take any entries for turf races that could have been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, the only days for which overnights were available, and the turf course has been closed for the immediate future.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Gerald Romero and Roman Chapa are becoming a trainer-jockey combination of note at Lone Star Park. The pair, who started to team together on a regular basis in June, won two races last week, and will look for their fourth joint win of the meet in Thursday night's sixth race with Darnaby.

"What I like about Roman is that he's a strong, aggressive, smart rider," said Romero, who added that it doesn't hurt that Chapa's agent, Mark Parker, is from his hometown of Erath, La. "The key to this game is winning races, and things are working well for us right now."

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Robaleur, who has looked like a new horse since returning from a six-month layoff, looms a legitimate heavy favorite in the $40,000 Pleasanton Handicap for 3-year-olds at the Alameda County Fair Thursday.

Only five entered the 1 1/16-mile race.

Robaleur, owned by the Walter Family Trust and trained by Armando Lage, was just another 2-year-old maiden last year, finishing second once from six starts and finishing no better than fifth in his other starts.

BOSSIER CITY, La. - When trainer Shane Wilson was walking hots as a 14-year-old for Jack Van Berg at Louisiana Downs, he never imagined he would someday train for the track's most powerful owner, John Franks.

Wilson, who went out on his own as a public trainer three years ago, hit a stroke of good fortune recently when Franks, a multiple Eclipse Award-winning owner, sent him 22 horses to run this meet at Louisiana Downs.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - People accustomed to reading the fine print should hold an advantage handicapping the featured ninth race at Churchill Downs on Thursday.

The key to the $55,900 allowance lies in the race conditions, easily overlooked right above the race's past performances. The five-furlong grass race is restricted to horses who "have not won $18,600 twice on the turf other than maiden, claiming or starter."

ALTOONA, Iowa - Unbridled Elaine heads a solid field of six in the $150,000 Iowa Oaks at 1 1/16 miles at Prairie Meadows on Thursday.

Unbridled Elaine, a daughter of Unbridled's Song, enters the Iowa Oaks off a fourth-place finish against a strong field in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park on June 8, beaten 2 1/4 lengths by upset winner Forest Secrets. Her owner, Roger Devenport, transferred her from the barn of Dallas Stewart following the Acorn; she makes her first start for trainer David Vance in the Iowa Oaks.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - In the Grade 2, $300,000 Molly Pitcher Handicap this past Saturday, the fourth-place finisher may have run the best race.

The horse, Wittenberg, encountered a ton of obstacles in the race, yet still posed a threat to the eventual winner, March Magic, at the eighth pole. Trained by Vicki Oliver and ridden by Dale Beckner, Wittenberg finished less than a length back of the second-place horse.

CHICAGO - Without many people outside Chicago racing circles noticing, trainer Mike Reavis has won the last three training titles in this city. Reavis topped Hawthorne's fall-winter meet last year, led Sportsman's winter-spring meet this year, and won the title again at Hawthorne this spring.