DEL MAR, Calif. - Solar Fire and Wind Flow were third and fourth in the Sorrento Stakes on Aug. 9, a major prep for Saturday's $250,000 Del Mar Debutante.

Typically, such efforts in the Sorrento would make those fillies top contenders for the Debutante, the meeting's championship for 2-year-old fillies.

But not this year.

Impressive maiden wins by Victory U.S.A. and Halfbridled in the first two weeks of the meeting relegate Solar Fire and Wind Flow to outsiders for the Grade 1 Debutante, which is run over seven furlongs.

MIAMI - First there was the Festival of the Sun, then came the Summit of Speed, and last year it was the Sunshine Millions. Now it's "Baby Day," the latest in a string of innovative days at Calder Race Course. Baby Day features a 13-race live program made up entirely of 2-year-old races, including six stakes, topped by the middle legs of the Florida Stallion Stakes.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Russell Baze will be gunning for his 30th Bay Meadows riding title when the fall meet opens Friday.

Baze has won every major northern California meet he has competed at since his first title during the 1980-81 meet at Bay Meadows. He had 97 victories at the spring meet, one more than the combined total of runners-up Ron Warren Jr. (52) and Roberto Gonzalez (44).

Jason Lumpkins, who has given Baze his stiffest competition in recent years, will ride at the Bay Meadows meet after moving to Kentucky last winter.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bay Meadows hopes to get off to a big start as it begins a 50-day fall meeting Friday.

Two stakes races are planned for opening weekend, including the $100,000 California Turf Championship, which last year was one of the meet's most hotly contested events.

Ninebanks and Surprise Halo ran one-two in the Turf Championship last year and are expected to renew their rivalry. Ninebanks won two graded stakes races this spring, and Surprise Halo is coming off a victory in the $100,000 Joseph Grace Handicap at Santa Rosa.

Ameri Brilliance set a world record of 43.76 seconds for four furlongs on dirt Saturday at Timonium. A 4-year-old Ameri Valay gelding, Ameri Brilliance won the optional claiming race by eight lengths.

The former world record for a half-mile on dirt was 43.80, set by Adventuresome Love in 1993 at Stampede Park and tied by Hafta Nafta three years later, also at Stampede.

Owned by Elaine Bassford and trained by Ben Feliciano Jr., Ameri Brilliance was coming off a 6 1/4-length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong allowance sprint at Mountaineer Park.

Sulamani, who was placed first by the stewards in the Grade 1 Arlington Million, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $750,000 Turf Classic Invitational on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park, Godolphin Racing Inc. announced on its website Wednesday.

The Turf Classic, run at 1 1/2 miles, will be Sulamani's final prep before the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Say farewell to some old, familiar New Jersey stakes races.

Longtime Meadowlands Racetrack handicap fixtures such as the Pegasus, the Cliff Hanger, and the Boiling Springs will not be offered this year, and the savings will be reallocated to overnight purses.

Mr Ross, one of the top handicap horses in this region for four years, has been retired to the Edmond, Okla., farm of his owner, Don McNeill.

Trainer Donnie Von Hemel, who managed the 8-year-old gelding throughout his career, said the decision was made because, "The suspensory that he had been fighting last year reappeared. It was a good time to call it quits."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Few things are more heartbreaking for a horseplayer than to see his horse flatten out in the final furlong of a race after making a premature move, something that happens regularly at every track.

A prime example is the Woodbine-based Perfect Soul's try in the Grade 1 Arlington Million Aug. 16. Perfect Soul raced in mid-pack early before making a bold wide bid on the far turn of the 1 1/4-mile race. He hit the front at the top of the stretch, where he looked like a winner, only to gradually weaken and finish less than a length back in fifth.

AUBURN, Wash. - Last Sunday's Longacres Mile Day program was one for the record books.

First there was Sky Jack's performance in the Mile itself. Sky Jack's 44.40-second half-mile, 1:33 final time, and 6 1/2-length win margin are records in the 68-year history of the Northwest's premier race.