ARCADIA, Calif. - The height of the 2003 race season has passed, but there is still plenty of important racing to be done. There are four Grade 1 stakes races in December, all in California, all within the span of one week at the end of the month.

ALBANY, Calif. - Just call Golden Gate Fields racing secretary Tom Doutrich a gambler.

After losing to scratches 11 of 26 entered horses when three scheduled turf races were shifted to the dirt Wednesday, Doutrich has scheduled Friday's feature race for 4 1/2 furlongs on the turf. Eight were entered, and Chapilkim, a 4-year-old filly meeting seven males, figures tough on either turf or dirt.

NORTH RANDALL, Ohio - Everything has come together this year for trainer Rodney Faulkner, who on Wednesday ranked 19th in the nation with 125 wins.

Faulkner won his first meet trainer title at the Randall meeting and has a commanding 32-18 lead at the current Cranwood meeting, which ends on Dec. 16. He has won 96 races here this year and could break the Cranwood record of 42 as well as the Thistledown yearly mark of 113.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Are you for Steve Asmussen or against him? It's a question bettors must ask themselves frequently when playing the races at Sunland Park these days.

Last year Asmussen won 16 races, including six stakes, from 39 starters at this meet. He did it by without any local stalls and by shipping in from such distant locales as Houston and New Orleans. This year, he has 18 stalls on the grounds, and has increased his presence at the meet.

NEW ORLEANS - A horse occupies the first stall outside trainer Neil Howard's barn office at Fair Grounds. But it is not The Horse.

When Howard made his winter move from Churchill to Fair Grounds last year, he brought with him an entry-level allowance winner named Mineshaft, who took up residence in that first stall and spent the Fair Grounds meet blossoming into the finest handicap horse in the country - just as Howard quietly had hinted he would last December.

Building a racetrack in a small West Virginia town during the Great Depression hardly seems like a sound business decision. Neither does the selection of Dec. 2 for opening day.

But Charles Town Races survived that first December in 1933 and, thanks to the introduction of slots six years ago, will mark its 70th anniversary this weekend.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Total wagering on the live Thoroughbred meeting declined by 4.4 percent this year, the Woodbine Entertainment Group announced Wednesday.

A total of $347,433,595 was wagered during the 162-day meeting, which ran five fewer days than scheduled due to four weather-related cancellations, and a day lost to the August blackout. Last year's total handle for a 166-day meeting was $363,780,210.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Friday's Thanksgiving Handicap at a mile was supposed to be a showdown between Lethal Grande and Yesss, the kingpins of the local handicap division, but nobody told Zip the Bright.

Zip the Bright, 4, had not raced since closing for third behind Lethal Grande in the six-furlong Inaugural Handicap on Oct. 18 and was sent off at 20-1 in a field of six. He looked like a winner every step of the way.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - After a non-productive 5-year-old season, Multiple Choice looks to get an early start on his 6-year-old campaign Thursday when he heads an eight-horse field entered in a $52,000 optional claiming race at Aqueduct.

This is believed to be the first optional claiming race run at a New York Racing Association track. None of the eight entrants is offered for the $75,000 claiming price in a race which serves as a prep for the Grade 3, $100,000 Gravesend Handicap on Dec. 21.

NEW ORLEANS - With Salty Farma, performance often comes down to her feet.

Throughout her up-and-down career, her large, dish-shaped feet have been susceptible to quarter cracks and general deterioration, and as any horseman will tell you, chronic foot problems often radiate upward, causing unsoundness in other parts of the leg.