DEL MAR, Calif. - Now that Gary Stevens can breath easier, it's time to come back to the races. Tuesday morning at Del Mar, Stevens said he was going to begin riding again on Friday, less than three weeks after being injured in a terrifying accident in the Arlington Million.

Stevens thought he would be out for about a month after being injured, but was not surprised he is ready to come back sooner. He has been injured often enough to know he comes back faster than expected.

"Usually with a jock when they say it's four weeks, it's two," Stevens said.

DEL MAR, Calif. - It wasn't the competition nor the distance that concerned trainer Darrell Vienna. All he wanted for Joey Franco was an outside draw for Monday's $250,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap. When Joey Franco landed post 6 for the Grade 2 race, Vienna was elated. "I was so happy with the draw, because it's hard to get trapped," he said.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The steady stream of horse vans returning to Belmont Park from Saratoga tied up traffic in the backstretch on Tuesday morning, but the scene on the main track and training track was much quieter.

Heavy rain kept horse traffic to a minimum on both tracks. Only one horse, the Neil Howard-trained Oneofacat, worked on the main track, which was listed as sloppy. No horses worked on the training track.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. - Canterbury Park's 2003 meeting concluded Monday with record gains in attendance and handle.

Ontrack live attendance was 302,771, up 14 percent from last year's attendance of 265,363. Daily average attendance was 4,806, a 10 percent increase over the previous year.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Mark Glatt was fined $1,500 on Monday and suspended for 15 days, beginning Saturday, for violations of California Horse Racing Board rules related to contraband, medication, and labeling of medications, Del Mar's board of stewards said in a ruling.

The stewards - Ingrid Fermin, David Samuel, and George Slender - declined to elaborate on the ruling, not even the specifics of the charges or the date when they allegedly occurred. "We've been instructed not to say anything, pending an appeal," Slender said.

Despite ontrack handle being down 10 percent in comparison to 2002 figures, all-sources wagering was up a whopping 27 percent at the 41-day Ellis Park meet that ended Monday, according to figures released by the Henderson, Ky., track.

Daily ontrack handle averaged only $348,418, but that figure was more than offset by the average handle from outside sources. All-sources handle averaged a little over $3,556,000 per day.

AUBURN, Wash. - All N the Game seems nicely spotted to win his third straight at Emerald Downs on Thursday, when he takes on eight other $16,000 3-year-olds in the featured seventh race.

All N the Game, a son of Game Plan from the barn of trainer Dan Markle, graduated over modest $10,000 maidens when stretched out to 1 1/16 miles on July 31, then came back on Aug. 14 to defeat $16,000 winners with a mile in 1:37.80. Jockey Gary Baze was up for both of those wins, and Baze gets off two other contenders to retain the mount at 121 pounds.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Monmouth Park moves into the extended portion of the season Thursday afternoon after a two-day break to regroup from the Labor Day weekend.

Monmouth traditionally runs a summer meet from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day. This year, the Monmouth meet doesn't end until Sept. 28, with the return of Thoroughbred racing at The Meadowlands Racetrack delayed until Oct. 2.

Monmouth last ran an expanded season in 1975 when the meet concluded Oct. 4.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Gone to Party has eight rivals on Thursday in a $40,000 optional claimer for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs. But if Gone to Party is as good as trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and jockey Russell Baze hope she is, her opponents are running for second.

Gone to Party, a John Franks homebred, looked like a sure thing at 4-5 in her Aug. 13 debut at the Bay Meadows Fair. She came into the race with a series of un-Hollendorfer-like works. She had a 46.60-second half-mile bullet, a 1:11.20 six-furlong drill, and five-furlong works of 59 and 58.60 from the gate.

CHICAGO - Take Charge Lady, smashing winner of the Arlington Matron Handicap here Monday, was due to head back to trainer Kenny McPeek's home base at Churchill Downs on Wednesday.

Tuesday, Take Charge Lady could take things easy in McPeek's Arlington barn - not that she really needed much rest. Take Charge Lady won the Grade 3 Matron by more than 10 lengths, and only rarely does a horse win so easily.

What's more, jockey Shane Sellers said Take Charge Lady won despite disliking Arlington's muddy main track.