ELMONT, N.Y. - The $250,000 Forest Hills Handicap lost its star when Squirtle Squirt wasn't entered in the Grade 2 stakes on Sunday.

On Friday, a deal was signed to sell Squirtle Squirt to Japanese interests. Pending the results of blood tests, Squirtle Squirt, last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and champion sprinter, will be sent to Japan on Oct. 26.

Avanzado is the likely favorite among eight males entered in the six-furlong Forest Hills. Avanzado and Say Florida Sandy carry 116 pounds as the co-highweights.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Tyler Baze, the winner of the 2000 Eclipse Award for top apprentice, will ride in New York for the first time on Sunday in the $250,000 Forest Hills Handicap.

Baze, who is based in Southern California, rides Avanzado, the likely favorite in the Grade 2 Forest Hills.

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Michael Barkowski has enjoyed playing the horses most of his life. But it wasn't until two years ago that he decided to become an owner.

Beginning with this week's racing, Barkowski is in a tie for second place among Fort Erie owners with 21 wins.

"I thought it would be cheaper to just own one," said Barkowski, 53, who is retired from the insurance business.

"With slots coming in and purses increasing you could make money. I was going to do it as a hobby - two or three horses, and golf."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Grand, who arrived from England on Thursday evening, adds a touch of intrigue to Sunday's Grey Stakes.

An Irish-bred colt by Grand Lodge, Grand has won his last two races by a total of 30 lengths, beginning with a seven-length romp over a mile on yielding turf at Newcastle on Aug. 23.

And after his last start, a 23-length blowout at 1 1/16 miles on the all-weather course at Wolverhampton, Grand was purchased by Barry Irwin's Team Valor and immediately was declared a candidate for the Grey, with an eye toward the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Macho Uno gave the Grey Breeders' Cup Stakes continent-wide recognition when he won it in 2000 before capturing the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in his next start.

This year's running of the Grade 2 Grey, worth $273,500, is also a legitimate BC Juvenile prep, with the connections of Wando, Gigawatt, and Grand all eyeing that race, to be run Oct. 26 at Arlington.

Cowboy Tough, who has taken his game to another level since he started racing on turf on a regular basis, must beat seven others, including a pair of 9-year-old grass specialists, Sunday in the $30,000 Brother Brown Handicap at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

Otro Mambo, defending champ in the five-furlong turf race, and Caro's Royalty, a two-time winner of the $100,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint, are both 9, and are the most accomplished entrants in the Brother Brown.

ANDERSON, Ind. - A field of six Indiana-bred and -sired males, 3 and up, face off in Sunday's $40,000-added William Henry Harrison Stakes at six furlongs to conclude a busy weekend, which featured both the Indian Oaks and Derby.

Three-year-olds Imageofhope, Restitution, and Indy Energy will be trying to show up their elders in this spot as they return off allowance wins.

Crowned King, who lost his rider when he stumbled at the start of the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Juvenile in his last race, returns home Sunday for the $30,000 Minstrel at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La.

The 6 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-olds drew a field of eight, including Zydeco Affair, who returns to dirt after winning the $100,000 El Joven on turf at Retama Park.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bay Meadows planned to run two stakes Sunday, the Time to Leave Stakes and the Autumn Leaves Handicap.

Only the Autumn Leaves, a $60,000-added race for fillies and mares, will be run.

Only five 2-year-old fillies entered the one-mile Time to Leave, and one was on the vet's list, forcing a postponement of the race. Bay Meadows officials hope to run it next Sunday.

The Autumn Leaves was in a similar position when originally scheduled on Sept. 7. It did not draw enough entries, but racing secretary Greg Brent brought it back Sunday, and it filled.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Veteran jockey Calvin Borel will ride this winter at Fair Grounds instead of Oaklawn Park, where he has been a leading rider since the early 1990's, agent Jerry Hissam said Friday at Keeneland.

Hissam said Borel is switching to Fair Grounds, the New Orleans track that begins a four-month meet Nov. 28, "because of the way our clientele has shifted. We've got a lot more business there."

Borel will ride the entire five-week fall meet at Churchill Downs, which runs through Nov. 30, before heading to Fair Grounds to begin riding Dec. 5.