OZONE PARK, N.Y. – To hear trainer Chris Englehart tell it, Dancing Sophia wasn’t much to look at when she first came into the barn following a claim out of a winning effort on Jan. 13. Dancing Sophia certainly became a sight for sore eyes when she romped to a 9 1/2-length victory in her first start for Englehart and Brian Culnan’s Epona Racing Stable on Feb. 24.

“If I didn’t know that [previous trainer] Jim Ryerson did a good job with his horses I would have thought she wasn’t well taken care of,” Englehart said. “She didn’t look real good.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – A peculiar turn of events has postponed a Monday showdown between flashy maiden winners who eventually may invigorate the 3-year-old filly division at Santa Anita.

At first, an early-season clash between Coffee in Bed and Clearly Unhinged was not likely. They were headed to different races – Coffee in Bed to a graded route, Clearly Unhinged to an allowance sprint.

In her first two starts in California, Manhattan Jungle finished a fine second at a mile on turf in the Blue Norther Stakes in late December, and won as the favorite in the Sweet Life Stakes for turf sprinters in early February.

She has been equally as sharp in morning training in advance of her third start in the state in Sunday’s $100,000 Angels Flight Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.

There are no easy races in the 20-cent Golden Pick 6 that has a mandatory payout at Golden Gate Fields on Sunday.

For every race such as the fifth, which may be dominated by the improving filly Mastery Kat, there is the eighth race with five last-race winners.

The pick six covers the fourth through ninth races on a program that begins at 1:15 p.m. Pacific.

Christophe Clement has nothing in mind for a potential turf standout named Contemporary Art except to get a good race in her Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

“At the moment, the idea is to get her started back and go from there,” Clement said.

Contemporary Art, a Bobby Flay homebred, will make her first start in nearly eight months in a $72,000 first-level allowance carded as the eighth of 10 Sunday races. The 1 1/16-mile turf race marks the 4-year-old filly’s first start for Clement following three promising outings last year for Chad Brown.

Henry Q and the trainer of Hard to Figure, Bob Baffert, are honorary locals when it comes to Sunland Park in New Mexico.

The Southern California-based horses will vie for favoritism Sunday in the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Park Derby. Fort Bragg, another leading contender entered in the 1 1/8-mile race, will not start and will re-route to the Florida Derby, according to trainer Tim Yakteen.

An outstanding program is on tap for Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs when the Florida Cup is run for the 20th time in Oldsmar, Fla. Six sponsored stakes for registered Florida-breds, each worth $110,000, anchor a 12-race card that starts at 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The first 200-point Kentucky Derby qualifying race of 2023 comes on Saturday at Meydan in Dubai, some 7,000 miles from Churchill Downs. The Grade 2, $1 million UAE Derby drew a field of 13, and the first five home earn points, distributed 100-40-30-20-10, toward qualifying for the 20-runner Kentucky Derby.

The UAE Derby is race 5 on the nine-race card, which includes the $12 million Dubai World Cup.

In Saturday’s $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park, trainer Mike Maker appears to have them surrounded. Maker has five entrants in the main body of the field of 12, with defending race winner King Cause joined by Fancy Liquor, Founder, Leblon, and Ocean Atlantique.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though a little more condensed than in previous years, Aqueduct will celebrate the claiming horses Saturday with six starter-allowance races worth a combined $380,000 in purse money as part of a 10-race card.

From 2016-22 (excluding 2020), the New York Claiming Championships, as this day was previously referred, consisted of 10 starter-allowance races with purses of more than $620,000. This year, the starter races are being run primarily for horses who have participated in claiming races at the $25,000 level or cheaper in 2022-23.