OCEANPORT, N.J. - The condition of the Monmouth Park turf course remains the prime concern of trainers planning to run horses Sunday in the Grade 3, $100,000 Matchmaker Handicap for fillies and mares.

The rain-soaked course saw action Thursday for the first time since Aug. 3, but the track ran only one of the scheduled three turf races on the grass Friday afternoon.

The 1 1/8-mile Matchmaker attracted a field of 13 and a host of concerns from trainers.

"My filly does not like a soft course," said Mary Eppler, trainer of Lady Linda.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Not this year. The trainer Chris Block has not lost faith in Mystery Giver, but instead of running in the Arlington Million, Mystery Giver does his Million week racing this season in Sunday's $50,000-added John Henry Stakes. Fifth with a tough trip in the 2002 Arlington Handicap, Mystery Giver nevertheless got a shot in last year's Million. He was 30-1 in the race, and ran like a longshot, finishing ninth by more than 11 lengths. It wasn't fair, really, since Mystery Giver is a much better horse than that.

A handicapping dilemma familiar to many horseplayers has arisen Sunday with the arrival of Cactus Ridge at Ellis Park.Cactus Ridge has been spectacular in winning both of his career starts, including his most recent in which he earned a huge Beyer Speed Figure. But that latest victory came at Canterbury Park, and bettors will have to decide whether that race is on a genuine par with the kinds of races in which his eight 2-year-old rivals in the $100,000 James C. Ellis Juvenile have been competing.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Stormthebarricade and Langburg are the main players in the Sunday's $163,350 Vandal Stakes, a six-furlong dash for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds at Woodbine. Stormthebarricade was a front-running winner of his May 11 debut, in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special. He was bet down to 3-5 a month later, in the five-furlong Victoria Stakes, in which he clipped heels with a Gemini Dream heading into the turn and fell.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Tates Creek, the morning-line favorite for the Beverly D. at Arlington Park on Saturday, was scratched from the race Thursday after trainer Bobby Frankel decided not to fly in the filly from Southern California.

Tates Creek, the beaten favorite in the July 26 Mabee Handicap at Del Mar, was scheduled to be ridden by Pat Valenzuela in the Beverly D. With her defection, Valenzuela, who also was named to ride longshot Touch of Land in the Arlington Million, planned to remain at Del Mar to ride Saturday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Sulamani, the Godolphin Racing star who figures as the favorite in Saturday's Arlington Million, did not train as scheduled Thursday morning because of a foot bruise.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Arabic Song won her first stakes in Wednesday's $79,975 Osunitas Handicap at Del Mar, benefiting from an ideal trip under jockey Corey Nakatani and overcoming the trouble that plagued some runners.

Arabic Song ($21.20) ran 1 1-16 miles on turf in 1:40.61. The final time was only three-fifth's of a second off the course record on a surface that has played fast throughout the meeting.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - There were nattily attired, attractive young women wielding cereal-box-sized name cards. There were cut-glass markers under which post-position numbers were buried. There was a stirring video for each horse and a cavalcade of assistant trainers and head lads brought forward to stand in front of an audience, mainly media members who were munching lunch.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Even another torrential rainstorm in Saratoga couldn't keep Funny Cide's legion of fans away from their hero Wednesday. Though Mother Nature's fury delayed the chestnut gelding's entrance by 28 minutes on "Funny Cide Day," an appreciative throng estimated at around 1,000 was on hand 90 minutes before the first race to get a peek at the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner as he toured the sloppy paddock.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Joe Bear has never run in a graded stakes race, and his trainer readily concedes Saturday's Grade 1 Secretariat may be too much, too soon for the pint-sized Joe Bear. On the other hand, Running Stag got little respect in 1998 when he made the highly irregular move from European turf to American dirt, and he wound up winning three graded stakes in this country.