ARCADIA, Calif. - Only two tickets were able to isolate all six winners in Saturday's pick six at Santa Anita, and those tickets were each worth a whopping $760,851.80.

No one had hit the pick six the two previous days, leading to a carryover into Saturday's card of $536,394. A parade of longshots Saturday made nailing all six winners extremely challenging. There was only one winning favorite in the six races, and several short-priced favorites, including Olmodavor in the featured San Pasqual Handicap, were defeated.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Star Cross had the annoying habit of failing to turn left whenever he reached a turn, so late last year, trainer Darrell Vienna added an extension blinker to his equipment. It has turned him around.

Star Cross won a minor stakes race at Golden Gate Fields in November in his first start with the new equipment, and on Saturday at Santa Anita he earned the first graded stakes win of his career when he rallied to capture the Grade 2, $150,000 .

SUNLAND PARK, N. M. - Steve Asmussen's uncoupled entry of City Sleeper and Dazzling Rubies, bet down to 3-5 and 7-2 respectively, were upset by Inox ($26.80) in Saturday's $53,950 at Sunland Park.

Asmussen, who has a string on the grounds here for the first time, won six stakes last season with ship-ins and finished sixth in the overall standings. With only eighteen stalls for the current meet, Asmussen is dominating the standings with 19 wins from 66 starts, but strangely is now 0 for 6 in added money events despite running numerous heavy favorites.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Cajun Beat was the marquee name on Saturday's opening-day program for the 2004 Gulfstream Park season, and the Breeders' Cup Sprint winner did not disappoint, posting an easy 1 1/2-length victory over Gygistar in the $100,000 .

NEW ORLEANS - Last Wednesday was New Year's Eve Day, and the Fair Grounds track would be closed for training the next morning. There was more traffic here than on a Los Angeles freeway.

A total of 204 horses worked four or five furlongs the morning of the 31st, a startling number for a racetrack with a barn area the size of the Fair Grounds. The abundance of horses training at Fair Grounds seems to be translating to bigger fields.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Only a dead heat would have made it a perfect afternoon for Allen Jerkens. As it was, the Hall of Fame trainer won with three of four starters on opening day at Gulfstream Park, with his only defeat coming when Bowman's Band was barely beaten by his Jerkens stablemate, Puzzlement, in the $100,000 .

"It's always good to get lucky," Jerkens said with typical calmness following the Grade 3 Hal's Hope.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It was more of a quiz than a test, but Smarty Jones scored high marks in his two-turn debut Saturday, rolling to a five-length victory in the $81,225 at Aqueduct to remain undefeated in three starts.

Pacesetter Risky Trick held second, six lengths ahead of Mr. Spock. Rb's Glitter, Sinister G, One Tough Dude, and a rank Distressed Debt completed the order of finish.

Smarty Jones, a son of Elusive Quality, was dominant in his first two starts - both sprints - at Philadelphia Park.

PORTLAND, Ore. - An evenly matched field of 10 older runners will clash at a mile in the top offering at Portland Meadows on Monday, a $2,500 claiming affair for horses who have never won two races.

None of the entrants are coming off wins, but Frigidon and Western Ruler ran second in their most recent outings and may be favored.

NEW ORLEANS - The local path to the Louisiana Derby starts Jan. 24 with the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, and Fire Slam, the colt who finished second in the $1 million Delta Jackpot, should be ready for it.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - More than a few high-profile stables have called Tampa Bay Downs their winter home - Spendthrift Farm, for example, owned a barn on the backstretch here many years ago. But in those days, many stables treated Tampa Bay Downs as a place to lay up for the winter, to run a few horses and get their youngsters ready for debuts at tracks up north.

In recent years, the policy for distributing stalls has changed, and stabling here for the winter does not mean soaking up some sun and getting some foundation into your horses. It means running them.