SAN MATEO, Calif. - Dance for Fun, who has finished second in her last four starts, seems to deserve another chance in Friday night's featured $32,000 starter allowance race for fillies and mares.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Dixie Dot Com, who completed a sweep of Texas's two graded stakes with his win in the Grade 3, $300,000 Lone Star Park Handicap last Monday, could start next in either the Grade 3 Corn-husker Breeders' Cup at Prairie Meadows on July 7, or the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park on July 1.

"Right now we're leaning heaviest toward the Cornhusker," said trainer Bill Morey Jr.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - A back problem that has plagued Printemps throughout the year will prevent her from starting in Sunday's $250,000 Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.

"She hasn't missed a day, but we've missed a couple of works," trainer Ron McAnally said. "We've had to treat her in between both of her races. We've had two or three horses that are off behind. I think the track is getting loose."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Robbie King has had a jockey's-eye view of the Canadian Oaks, having ridden in the race three times. But this year the 37-year-old King is approaching the Oaks from a different perspective, as the trainer of the filly Devastating.

Owned by the Orange Blossom Stable of British Columbia-based Ralph and Linda Bodine, Devastating goes for her third straight victory in the June 9 Labatt Woodbine Oaks.

STICKNEY, Ill. - Friday's card begins the penultimate week of racing at Hawthorne this spring. Ten programs remain in the six-week spring meet before Arlington Park reopens on June 15. And make no mistake, many regional horsemen have been sitting on their better racing stock, awaiting the more glamorous Arlington meet.

But a desirable purse in Friday's featured overnight stakes race, dubbed the Pollyanna Pixie, has brought out a deep, bettable field of 10 3-year-old fillies.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba - Bold Tour is the one to catch when seven $10,000 claimers go seven furlongs in Friday's featured seventh race at Assiniboia Downs.

Trained by Emile Corbel, Bold Tour is 4 for 8 at the distance. A 6-year-old gelding, Bold Tour will break from the rail under jockey Anderson Ward.

Lining up outside Bold Tour, in post position order, are Biddy Biddy, Super Mountain, Triple Great, Il Massimo, Concorde Illusion, and Sovereignadversary.

Timely Ruckus takes Halter

AUBURN, Wash. - Thursday's feature at Emerald Downs will test handicappers' ability to interpret race conditions. Which of the seven entrants are stepping up in class, and which are dropping?

It will be the old man against a couple of relative youngsters when the 8-year-old Sir Bear takes on up-and-coming 4-year-olds Include and Broken Vow in Saturday's $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs. The Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile race drew a field of seven older horses.

Sir Bear, a winner of three Grade 1 stakes, including the Gulfstream Park Handicap in his 2001 debut, drew post 1 and will have the services of Jorge Chavez for the first time on Saturday.

Point Given and A P Valentine, the one-two finishers in the May 19 Preakness Stakes, both worked five furlongs on Tuesday morning in preparation for the June 9 Belmont Stakes, in which both colts will try to give their trainers their first Belmont victory.

A P Valentine and Point Given are among nine 3-year-olds expected for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, the final leg of the Triple Crown.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The favorite in race 4 has not started in eight months. The pacesetter in race 7 has been off a year and a half. On Thursday at Hollywood Park, handicappers face a dilemma: current form or ancient history?

Maganda will be favored in race 4, a two-other-than filly-mare sprint that is her first since September. Candy Lonely will set the pace in race 7, a three-other-than filly-mare turf route that is her first race since November 1999. In their first starts back, their trainers do not expect them to be short.