Valay

Sunny Sunrise got the lead.Click.Track announcer Dave Rodman might as well have shut off his microphone yesterday when no one challenged the Bud Delp-trained pace-setter in the early running of the John B. Campbell Handicap.The horse led wire-to-wire at Pimlico Race Course, winning the 39th renewal of the historic handicap by four lengths over 8-5 favorite Ibex.Anyone expecting a repeat of the Sunny Sunrise-Ameri Valay speed duel that developed last month in the Harrison Johnson Memorial at Laurel was fooled.

Nick and Elaine Bassford campaigned a quartet of stakes winners last year.From that foursome, the only one still competing in added-money races is Ameri Valay.The Bassfords made the decision during the weekend to retire their chief bread-winner, Brilliant Brass.But yesterday, Ameri Valay started 1993 the same way Brilliant Brass ended 1992 -- by winning a stakes.He had the benefit of a 4-pound weight shift from Forry Cow How, who had beaten him in his last start, and dropping back to his best distance, 1 1/8 miles, Ameri Valay coasted to a 3 1/2 -length victory in the Native Dancer Handicap at Laurel.

A traffic guard at Laurel Race Course was in critical condition last night after he was struck by a vehicle driven by another track employee after the last race.Charles Dixon, 67, was flown by helicopter to Prince George's-Cheverly Hospital in Cheverly, where he was admitted into the facility's intensive care unit.Dixon was directing traffic near the Route 198 entrance to the track when he was hit by a pickup truck driven by Gary Schmidl, a longtime assistant on the starting gate.According to initial reports in the office of Laurel general manager Jim Mango, Dixon was knocked unconscious and was bleeding from the back of the head.

King Leatherbury said he looked at the early fractions of the Northern Dancer Stakes at Laurel Race Course yesterday, and was ready to blame his jockey Larry Reynolds for defeat."

Hal Clagett is going to be at Pimlico Race Course today, giving a loud whoop and a holler.The 75-year-old lawyer-farmer from Upper Marlboro will be rooting for Ameri Valay, a colt he bred, but no longer owns, to win the Deputed Testamony Stakes.Although the horse was claimed from him several months ago, Clagett raised the horse on his Weston Farm, and vividly remembers a mix-up in the colt's parentage.Was Ameri Valay sired by the stallion Carnivalay, the horse that his breeding line now lists as his father, or is his dad a younger stallion named Corridor Key?

LAUREL -- Owners Nick and Elaine Bassford won the $55,500 Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Race Course.But they also finished last.The couple from Davidsonville ran two horses, each handled by different trainers.Ameri Valay, from the King Leatherbury barn, loved the mud and won by a comfortable 3-length margin over a rallying Exit West.Festive Feathers, trained by Ricky Sillaman, disliked the wet track and quickly dropped out of contention."Of course, we were hoping for a dead heat," Nick Bassford said.

LAUREL -- Trainer Carlos Garcia said yesterday that Valay Maid's next start will be in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park on Oct. 27.The filly romped to victory in the Cotillion Stakes at Philadelphia Park six days ago. Garcia, whose 17 stakes victories this year make him the leader among Maryland trainers, said, "The Breeders' Cup is our main goal."Bayakoa, the defending Distaff champion, and Go For Wand are the likely favorites in the 1 1/8 -mile race. There has been speculation that Go For Wand might bypass the Distaff to try for Horse of the Year honors in the Breeders' Cup Classic, but Garcia said Go For Wand's status has nothing to do with his decision to take Valay Maid.