The Breeders' Cup and California Horse Racing Board have urged horsemen to take advantage of a prerace testing program for anabolic steroids as part of a wide-ranging effort to avoid the kind of public scrutiny that has dogged the racing industry since the death of the filly Eight Belles after her second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

Hollywood Park and the Thoroughbred Owners of California reached an agreement in principle Friday on a horsemen's contract, a wide-ranging document that includes the purse structure for the track's upcoming fall meeting from Oct. 29 through Dec. 21.

Criminologist and Waquoit’s Love laid it on the line in the Noble Damsel. Four weeks later, they clash again in Saturday’s $100,000 Athenia Handicap on the Widener turf at Belmont Park.

On a national stage later this month, trainer Ron Ellis is hoping to prove that the 2-year-old colt Believe in Hope is better than his third-place finish in the Norfolk Stakes on Sept. 28.

There are times to play against heavily favored horses in stakes races. Saturday's $250,000 Hawthorne Derby, topped by Adriano, does not appear to be one of them.

Tasha's Miracle is winless in seven starts since the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar in August 2007. This does not concern trainer John Sadler as Tasha's Miracle is being prepared for Saturday's $100,000 Harold Ramser Handicap at Santa Anita.

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s fall mixed sale, the first major mixed U.S. auction of the season, brought home a message yearling sellers first heard back in July. Namely, it's tougher to sell now, and if you bring anything to auction, it had better be quality.