Post position draw for Saturday's 74th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap will be held Thursday morning at 11:15 at the At the Rail Pavilion. A Breakfast will be served, beginning at 10:15 a.m.

The nine-furlong Whitney is the final stop on the "NTRA Champions" Series. It will be televised live by CBS during its telecast from 3 - 4 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the Whitney, the sixth race on Saturday, 3:40 p.m. Eastern.

Tracy Farmer's Albert The Great was winless in two starts at Saratoga last year. He finished a distant seventh in the Jim Dandy and ran a much improved effort in the meet's signature race, the Travers, grudgingly giving up the lead in deep stretch to Unshaded.

Farmer and trainer Nick Zito would like for nothing more than to see their $85,000 yearling buy record his first Spa win in Saturday's Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney Handicap at a mile and an eighth as the 124-pound highweight.

"There have been three tough Grade 1 beats for him," said Zito, who trained the colt's father, Go for Gin, to a Kentucky Derby win in 1994. "He could have won the Donn, Pimlico Special and Travers. He made up for the Travers by winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup last year."

Albert The Great would more than make amends for this year's Donn and Pimlico Special with a win in the Whitney. A victory in the Whitney would fatten Albert The Great's earnings by $720,000 ($450,000 winner's purse, plus $270,000 in NTRA bonus money). From five starts this year, Albert The Great has won three stakes, the Suburban, Brooklyn and Widener. His only defeats have come in the two Grade 1 starts.

"The Whitney is a very prestigious race that has been won by a lot of great horses over the years," Zito said. "Albert The Great is a special horse. He's performed unbelievably well this year. This horse really deserves [to win]."

Following a loss to Include on that rival's home track of Pimlico, Albert The Great came back to his favorite oval, Belmont Park, where he won the Brooklyn and Suburban. The colt's only loss in seven tries at Belmont was to Fusaichi Pegasus and El Corredor in the Jerome.

"He's trained very tough for this race," Zito said. "For some reason, the main track was not graded on Saturday. It was like a plowed field and Albert still went five furlongs in 1:00 3/5. He's ready for a tough race and I'm happy this race comes up quick because it leaves more time to the Woodward. I have to make sure I have two horses ready for the Breeders' Cup."

The other horse Zito is readying for the October 27th Breeders' Cup at Belmont Park is A P Valentine, winner of the Champagne last fall and second to Point Given in the Preakness and Belmont. Zito said A P Valentine would work on Saturday in preparation for the Grade 1, $600,000 Jim Dandy on August 4th.

Trainer John Ward Jr. is looking for a trio of fillies he trains to rebound this weekend. Former champion Beautiful Pleasure and Darling My Darling will start in Sunday's Grade 1, $250,000 Go For Wand at a mile and an eighth while Acorn winner Forest Secrets cuts back to seven furlongs for the Grade 1, $250,000 Test for three-year-old fillies on Saturday.

Beautiful Pleasure, champion older mare in 1999, was turned out over the winter while a decision was being made whether or not to breed her this year. In her first race back, the June 23rd Hempstead, the six-year-old mare looked like she was carrying more weight than she had in the past and she tired to last after setting the pace.

Under consideration to run in the Delaware Handicap last weekend, Ward opted to scratch out of that spot and wait for the Go For Wand.

"We thought the extra week was really going to help her," Ward said. "She has performed extremely well over the Saratoga racetrack. I didn't see why she should go to a strange track when I know she handles this track and won't have to ship."

Beautiful Pleasure is 3-for-5 at Saratoga with two seconds. She broke her maiden back in 1997 and has won two runnings of the Personal Ensign. The Go For Wand has been an elusive race for Beautiful Pleasure as the daughter of Maudlin has been second in both starts.

"I've seen an improvement in her mind and in her galloping since the Hempstead," Ward said. "She's probably lost about 40 pounds and she's more solid than she was a month ago."

Darling My Darling raced last early on in the Hempstead and made a minor move to be fifth. Her other two starts this year, a Gulfstream allowance and a listed stakes at Keeneland, were both wins.

"Mike Smith took her back coming out of the gate in the Hempstead and when he came back he said he made a mistake," Ward said. "She needs to go on and not be too far out of it."

John Velazquez will replace Smith aboard the four-year-old daughter of Deputy Minister.

Forest Secrets, winner of the Grade 1 Acorn in the third start of her career at 50-1, looks to rebound off a fourth-place Mother Goose finish in the Test.

"We took a little hold of her coming out of the gate in the Mother Goose and that may have been a mistake," Ward said. "She's a lot more seasoned now than she was going into the Acorn.

"I think she can run her natural kind of race at seven furlongs. It looks like there will be a good amount of speed in the race and she should be in a good spot just off the pace cutting back from a mile and an eighth."

Ward said Hero's Tribute, now the top three-year-old in the barn with Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos out until next year, will probably work on Saturday for the August 5th Haskell Invitational at Monmouth.

Robert Clay's Pompeii progressed nicely through allowance conditions last fall before trying a trio of stakes races at Aqueduct. The four-year-old daughter of Broad Brush won the Rare Treat and hit the board in the Affectionately and Next Move. Trainer John Kimmel elected to freshen the filly up for the summer after the March 31st Next Move and she did not start again until July 7th.

Shipped down to Philadelphia Park, Pompeii came from mid-pack to rally past the field in the $50,000 Doylestown, her first start in over three months. Kimmel and Clay are hoping the filly can continue to improve through her four-year-old season.

"I shipped her to Philly to get a two-turn race into her," Kimmel said. "It was just what I wanted to get her back on track. She had a hard winter campaign and I wanted to have her fresh for the summer."

If Pompeii continues to show the progress she did last year, she could be a newcomer to quickly reach the top of an unsorted division.

"She really started to improve and be professional last fall," Kimmel said. "She started doing what she was supposed to do. She ran a good number in the race at Philly without getting to the bottom and I think that makes her competitive with this group."

Fourteen-time winner Xtra Heat will make the first start of her career at Saratoga in Saturday's Test. On top of the purse money, there will be a $200,000 bonus awarded by Keeneland to Xtra Heat's owners and trainer for completing the Beaumont/Test double if she wins the Test.

"We're going to ship her up on Friday," trainer John Salzman said from his Laurel base. "She's run over nine different tracks and she's handled everything. I'm not expecting her to have any trouble with the track up there."

In her last start at seven furlongs, the Nassau County, Xtra Heat was on a clear lead in the stretch, but came home the last furlong in :13 1/5 and was nailed by Cat Chat.

Xtra Heat showed a different dimension in the Prioress, rating comfortably and finishing well, running six furlongs in 1:08 1/5.

"The Prioress was the best race she's ever run," Salzman said. "We had an idea that she would respond well to rating."

Xtra Heat, a $5,000 two-year-old purchase by Kenneth Taylor and others, has banked over $750,000. A win in the Test would put her over the $1 million mark.

"She breezed a half mile in :47 on Sunday," Salzman. "I don't think the post will matter much for her. If she runs her race, she's going to be in a good spot because of her natural speed."

Hobeau Farms' Put It Back, a son of Honour and Glory who is undefeated in five starts this year, breezed five furlongs over the main track here :58 4/5. Put It Back hasn't raced since winning the Grade 2 Riva Ridge on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9th.

"He looked good," Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens said. "The more you ask of him, the faster he goes. I thought he was moving pretty easily today."

Put It Back, arguably the leading three-year-old sprinter in the country, will run next in the Grade 2, $125,000 Amsterdam at six furlongs on August 3rd. His major goal this summer is the Grade 1, $200,000 Kings Bishop at seven furlongs on August 25th.

"I promised myself after the Riva Ridge I'd give him a little freshening," Jerkens said.

Shop Here, another Hobeau Farm homebred, breezed three furlongs over the main track in :37. The daughter of Dehere hasn't raced since finishing fourth behind Astrapi in the November 19th Valleystream at Aqueduct.

"She got pneumonia last November," Jerkens said. "I was forced to lay her up for the winter. She's come back in good shape."

Before the Valleystream, Shop Here defeated the highly regarded Serena's Tune (Mr. Prospector-Serena's Song, by Rahy) in a Belmont allowance race and also finished sixth behind Xtra Heat in the Grade 2 Astarita at Belmont Park.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said he still doesn't know if This Fleet Is Due, second behind Burning Roma in Monmouth Park's Long Branch, will go in Saratoga's Grade 1, $600,000 Jim Dandy on August 4th or Monmouth's Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on August 5th.

"We're going to keep a close watch on the fields for both races," Mott said. "It all depends on who runs where."

Steven Anthony, a popular bugler at Saratoga Race Course in the 1970s and '80s, died Monday. Mr. Anthony, who was 81, had suffered a stroke in June.

A native of Schenectady, Mr. Anthony was a musician since childhood, playing with his father's polka band when he was 10. He later played in the Coast Guard band, which afforded him the opportunity to play all over the world. When his tour of duty was over, Mr. Anthony played trumpet with some of the top bands of the big band era, including those headed by Charlie Spivak and Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

Mr. Anthony led his own area orchestra until his retirement in 1981, but stayed active in music.

"Of all the jobs my father had, I think he loved being the bugler at Saratoga the most," said his son, Jeff Anthony. "He always came home with great stories of the racetrack, and he made a lot of friends there. Mrs. (Virginia) Payson gave him a huge ring just because she liked him. He wore it until the day he died."

Viewing will be held tonight at DeLegge Funeral Home, from 6-8 p.m. The funeral will be at St. Adalbert Church, Schenectady at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

In today's Saratoga Sudden Death Contest, Macho Uno received a high 739 of 5,112 votes. Macho Uno was entered in today's eighth race.

In this contest, fans have to pick one horse to finish first, second or third. The prize is $5,000 in the winner-take all event.

Macho Uno, the juvenile champion of 2000, has not raced since winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs last November. A son of 1994 Travers winner Holy Bull, Macho Uno broke his maiden at first asking here last July 26th, then ran third in the Hopeful, a neck behind dead-heat winners City Zip and Yonaguska.

Speaking of City Zip, he worked five furlongs in 1:00 2/5, breezing today for trainer Linda Rice. Last year, City Zip won the Sanford, Saratoga Special and dead-heated for first in the Hopeful to become one of only four horses to complete that feat. The last one to do it before City Zip was Dehere, who went on to be the 1993 juvenile champion. The filly, Regret, did it in 1914 and went on to win the Kentucky Derby as a three-year-old. Campfire did it in 1916.

The sweep truly ranks among the great racing feats at Saratoga. In 1952, Native Dancer won four races here: the Flash Stakes (August 4), Saratoga Special (August 16), Grand Union Hotel (August 23) and the Hopeful (August 30). Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner, won three races at Saratoga as a two-year-old in 1972, including the Sanford and the Hopeful.