HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kelly Breen didn’t want to run Pants On Fire in a stakes to begin his 2013 campaign. But with no other options at the time, Pants On Fire ended up in the Grade 3 Hal’s Hope, where he finished a game third after stumbling at the break.

Breen finally found the allowance race he was looking for on Friday at Gulfstream Park, a conditioned event also open to $100,000 claimers going a mile. The $65,000 race lured a graded-stakes-quality field that also includes Alma d’Oro, Duke of Mischief, Eldaafer, and Winslow Homer.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A small field appears to be shaping up for next Sunday’s $100,000 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream Park but trainer Dave Fawkes is doing his part to help fill the starting gate with both the red-hot Cash Rules and the near multi-millionaire Duke of Mischief both being pointed for the race.

MIAMI - Bennie Stutts Jr., a racetrack fixture for more than 40 years, rang down the curtain on his long career after sending out Iwillneversaynever in Saturday’s sixth race.

Stutts, 74, comes from a racing family. His father, Ben, and uncles Harry and George Stutts all preceded him in the business. Born just outside the Fair Grounds in New Orleans but a football star at Coral Gables High School in Miami, Stutts first ventured out on his own as a trainer in 1968 and has raced at Calder since the plant opened in 1971.

Defending champion Duke of Mischief heads a full field of 10 older horses – all of them graded stakes winners – entered on Wednesday for the $1 million Charles Town Classic.

The 1 1/8-mile Classic, elevated to Grade 2 status, is part of a blockbuster card on Saturday night that includes five other stakes and the finals of the inaugural Charles Town Starter Tournament. As race 12 on a special 13-race program that begins two hours earlier than usual at 5 p.m. Eastern, the Classic is scheduled for 10:30 p.m.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – The decision by the connections of 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom to skip the Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes in favor of an allowance race at Gulfstream Park for his first start of 2012 took a bit of the luster off Saturday’s feature at Tampa Bay Downs. But the presence of million-dollar earner Duke of Mischief and Lentenor, full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, in the overflow field of 13 help make the 1 1/16th-mile turf race an intriguing challenge for bettors.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. − The much anticipated return of the undefeated Trickmeister will finally happen at Gulfstream on Saturday, when he makes his first start in nearly 16 months in the $60,000 Harlan’s Holiday Stakes.

Run at 1 1/16 miles, the Harlan’s Holiday came up very strong for an overnight stakes, also luring multiple graded stakes winner Duke of Mischief and steadily improving 3-year-old I’m Steppin’ It Up. The eight-horse field includes Trickmeister’s uncoupled stablemate, Boys At Tosconova, although he is not likely to start.

Duke of Mischief, idle since finishing 10th in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap, worked an easy half-mile in 49.80 seconds at Calder on Saturday as he continues to tune up for his return, which may not come until the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic on Jan. 26.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - More than 180 horses turned in timed workouts over a fast main track here on Sunday morning, including four tuning up Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney.

Mission Impazible, Rodman, and Giant Oak all worked five furlongs following the renovation break, while Duke Of Mischief went a half mile in his first breeze over the track since arriving from his Calder base earlier in the week.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.– Duke of Mischief arrived by van from his home base at Calder on Tuesday to begin final preparations for the Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney on Aug. 6 here at Saratoga.

Trainer David Fawkes had been on the fence for the past week regarding Duke of Mischief’s status for the Whitney before finally making the decision over the weekend to run. Duke of Mischief is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap after having won the $1 million Charles Town Classic earlier this spring.

MIAMI – Duke of Mischief has returned home following his fourth-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. Duke of Mischief rallied steadily outside horses under Joe Bravo to gain a very brief and narrow lead between calls in early stretch before flattening out and finishing two lengths behind upset winner Pool Play.