OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Like many of her colleagues, trainer Linda Rice was at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction Monday, trying to find the 2-year-old who possibly could take her to the spring classics next year.

It appears as though she already has that base covered this year.

Rice could be headed to her first Preakness Stakes with Kid Cruz, who scored a 3 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico. The win came six weeks after Kid Cruz stormed from 22 lengths back to win the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park.

STICKNEY, Ill. -- Dynamic Impact, who scored a narrow maiden victory March 1 in his fifth career start, ran down heavily favored Midnight Hawk to win the Grade 3, $500,000 Illinois Derby by a nose in a very tight photo finish Saturday at Hawthorne.

“With those head bobs, you never know,” said winning rider Miguel Mena.

Kid Cruz put himself in position for a possible start in the Preakness Stakes with a dominant victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.

No Tesio winner has captured the Preakness since Deputed Testamony in 1983, but 2011 Tesio runner-up Ruler On Ice went on to win the Belmont Stakes.

Kid Cruz, scratched from the April 5 Wood Memorial Stakes in New York because of a sore shoulder, was returning to Maryland for the first time since winning the 1 1/8-mile Private Terms by four lengths on March 1.

His last-to-first victory in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel Park had the connections of Kid Cruz briefly flirting with the Kentucky Derby.

But a physical issue prevented Kid Cruz from making the Wood Memorial on April 5 and now his connections have turned their sights on a possible start in the Preakness Stakes on May 17.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Kid Cruz will not make a last-ditch effort to make the Kentucky Derby.

Kid Cruz, who impressed with an eye-catching last-to-first victory in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel on March 8, was scratched from Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial due to a minor shoulder strain, trainer Linda Rice said.

Rice said that if the horse improves she will try to run him in the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 19 as a possible prep for the Preakness at Pimlico on May 17.

Horseplayers on a budget will be happy to learn that the minimum bet has been lowered from 50 cents to a dime for the Pimlico Players Jackpot Pick 5. The revised version of the exotic wager debuts Thursday, when Pimlico launches its 35-day spring meet.

From opening day through May 3, any bettor with a unique 10-cent winning ticket on the Pimlico Pick 5 will receive a minimum of $50,000, plus a trip for two to the 2014 Preakness with seats in the Turfside Terrace section. As a 50-cent wager, the most recent Jackpot  5 at Laurel Park paid $87,835 on March 13.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Can the top 3-year-old from Puerto Rico become a top 3-year-old in the United States? Mickey Gonzalez believes the answer is yes.

Tonito M won six of seven starts in Puerto Rico before Gonzalez purchased him last month. The Rock Hard Ten colt arrived at Santa Anita on Friday to prepare for a U.S. campaign. He jogged twice over the weekend and was scheduled to begin galloping Tuesday for his new trainer, Jerry Hollendorfer.

Dance With Fate, second in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 15, will be nominated to the Triple Crown for $6,000 in late March, trainer Peter Eurton said.

Eurton stressed that his focus with Dance With Fate is the $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack at Keeneland on April 12. He said one possible scenario is a start in the Blue Grass followed by the Preakness Stakes on dirt at Pimlico on May 17.

The Maryland Jockey Club has committed an additional $875,000 to stakes purses this spring at Pimlico and created a new $100,000 bonus for trainers who run horses in the 15 stakes on Preakness weekend.

The changes, along with the complete 2014 Pimlico stakes schedule, were announced Tuesday after formal approval was granted by the Maryland Racing Commission.

Bob Baffert has won nine Triple Crown races, but the Hall of Fame trainer had little impact on this year’s races, with no runners in the Kentucky Derby and just one in the Preakness Stakes, and his participation in this year’s Belmont Stakes on June 8 is far from assured, with Baffert on Wednesday saying he was still contemplating whether to run Code West, who worked with stablemate Power Broker on Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.