ARCADIA, Calif. – The notebook goes global this week – racing in Dubai, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona. Let’s dive in . . . Country Grammer gets rest Early favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Classic? He is Dubai World Cup winner Country Grammer. Bob Baffert said Country Grammer would return to Kentucky where WinStar Farm’s Elliott Walden “will go over him and make sure he’s okay.” After a rest, the 5-year-old will ship back to California and prepare for summer. :: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now! “Maybe Del Mar,” Baffert said. As for WinStar’s Dubai World Cup favorite Life Is Good, he finished a disappointing fourth. In the Country Grammer post-race, Walden looked as uncomfortably surprised as Baffert looked after Collected beat his heavily favored Arrogate in the 2017 Pacific Classic. Backstretch banter It is fun to engage in good-natured ribbing to lighten the mood. SF Racing’s Tom Ryan talked Sunday morning about Kentucky Derby candidates Messier, Doppelganger, and McLaren Vale moving from Bob Baffert to Tim Yakteen. Ryan, associate and friend of Baffert, was asked if that Yakteen previously worked for Baffert influenced the decision. Baffert was in earshot when Ryan offered a devilish reply: “Actually, the fact [Yakteen] worked for Charlie Whittingham seemed far more important.” Ready or not . . . In the midst of Kentucky Derby turmoil, future stars continue to emerge. John Velazquez talked strategy with Baffert prior to riding a first-time starter March 26 at Santa Anita. “[Baffert] told me, ‘Put him in the race and just sit there. He might need the race.’ ” Good one! High Connection won by 10 lengths with a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Afterward, Velazquez said to Baffert: “You told me was going to need a race.” Baffert’s reply: “He’s ready now.” Flightline nearing work Flightline is nearing takeoff. Recovered from a strained hock, he is galloping daily at Santa Anita and resumes workouts within the next two weeks. “That gives him plenty of works for the Met Mile,” trainer John Sadler said, referring to the Grade 1 Met Mile on June 11 at Belmont Park. Flightline is 3 for 3, with each win coming by double-digit margins including the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26. One worry over Flightline’s interrupted campaign is he now has a setback history. “He got over it,” Sadler said. “We just had to give him some time.” Tripoli on road back Another highly accomplished Sadler trainee also is nearing a return. Tripoli rose from obscurity to briefly emerge last summer as one of California’s top handicap horses by winning the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Sadler said Tripoli “is back galloping and will start working in April, too.” “I expect him to come back strong,” Sadler said. He said Tripoli underwent a procedure to “clean up spurring in his knees” after finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. If all goes perfect, Tripoli could run in a spring prep at Santa Anita, the Grade 2 San Diego on July 30 at Del Mar, and the Pacific Classic on Sept. 3. Plenty of time for Edgeway If graded stakes winner Edgeway starts at Keeneland this year, it will be in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, not the Grade 1 Madison on April 9. Sadler said Edgeway’s next target is the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 7 at Churchill Downs. Sadler prefers the two-month spacing between starts for Edgeway, a seven-length winner of the Grade 3 Las Flores on March 13 at Santa Anita. Edgeway has won both her starts since running second in the 2021 BC Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar, and is 7 for 11 lifetime. Question of distance Glass half-full or half-empty? Echo Zulu’s comeback win on Saturday in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks impressed some; others were less enthralled by her performance in the 1 1/16-mile race. Echo Zulu could be challenged by the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Kentucky Oaks, which is not to be critical of the undefeated front-runner For what it’s worth, Echo Zulu’s rail-trip 88 Beyer for the Fair Grounds Oaks is short of the Beyers of several Kentucky Oaks candidates this year, including Adare Manor (94), Secret Oath (92), and Venti Valentine (92). Although Echo Zulu ran 90-plus Beyers in all four of her starts last year, this bettor won’t mind going against her at nine furlongs if her Oaks odds are low. :: Win big at Santa Anita: Get DRF Past Performances, Picks, Clocker Reports and Betting Strategies.  Fountain of . . . flops? Win the prep, lose the main event? It happened the last five times the Fountain of Youth winner went favored in the Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Simplification looms large Saturday following an emphatic Fountain of Youth, yet recent low-odds misses by Fountain of Youth winners add unease to how he will perform in the Florida Derby. Those misses include even-money-or-less Florida Derby losses by Union Rags (2012), Mohaymen (2016), Gunnevera (2017), and Greatest Honour (2021). Over the past decade, Orb is the only horse to win both. And, oh, by the way, Orb also won the Kentucky Derby. Lukas still a ladies’ man A filly in the Arkansas Derby? Gotta love it. Secret Oath is the likely favorite following three blowout wins against her gender, and Saturday’s race at Oaklawn Park is not the first rodeo for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Winning Colors, a filly, was Lukas’s first Kentucky Derby winner, in 1988, and a Lukas runner still holds the Arkansas Derby stakes record set way back in 1984 – 1 1/8 miles in 1:46.80. The winner? Althea, a filly. ‘All others’ looking sweet Bettors who took odds of 4.20-1 on “all others” in the March 11-13 Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool are pleased with recent developments, including the trainer change that makes Messier and Doppelganger eligible for Derby points. “All others” now includes three key Arkansas Derby entrants – Secret Oath, Doppelganger, and We the People. Other top all-others candidates include Messier, the likely Santa Anita Derby favorite; Crown Pride, winner of the UAE Derby; and Slow Down Andy, winner of the low-rated Sunland Derby. Cashing big on Grindstone I will always have a soft spot for Grindstone, the 1996 Kentucky Derby winner who died March 22. Grindstone was a major score off three Nevada future-book wagers at 40-1, 40-1, and 30-1 that winter and spring. Grindstone’s wide-trip runner-up comeback on an inside-speed track at Santa Anita in February was the tipoff. He won the Grade 3 Louisiana Derby, ran second in the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby, and won the Kentucky Derby by a nose. Grindstone never ran again, but he ran enough. Even though Cigar was the deserving Horse of the Year, for me, 1996 was all about Grindstone. Thanks, champ. Grass becoming greener Despite intermittent rain and a turf problem, Santa Anita finally turned green. The final race on Sunday evened the season-long surface total – 190 races on turf, 190 on dirt. The winter-spring meet may end having run more races on turf than dirt. It would be the first time in winter-meet history, following tradition-busting autumn meets at Del Mar and Santa Anita in 2021. The win rate of favorites this winter at Santa Anita – 46 percent on dirt, 42 percent on turf. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures Czechers makes winning move The only Turf Paradise stakes that trainer Mark Glatt has won were with the filly Czechers in 2008 and 2009. Wouldn’t you know it? Glatt ran his first horse in Dubai last week, and there was Czechers again. Her 2014 foal Switzerland upset the Group 1 Golden Shaheen, while Glatt-trained Dr. Schivel finished third with a compromising trip. Speaking of Glatt and Turf Paradise, it turns out Law Abidin Citizen had an alibi finishing seventh in the Phoenix Gold Cup on March 11. On his first day back to the track, he popped a quarter. “I’m sure it was bugging him a little,” Glatt said. “He didn’t run his race.” Just head to the windows Daily Racing Form readers received ample warning about the Japan contingent at Dubai World Cup. A DRF story in the March 24 edition written by Marcus Hersh (“Japan’s 23 runners figure throughout World Cup card”) urged bettors to consider the Japan group in Dubai following success at the Breeders’ Cup and Saudi Cup. Good advice, it turns out. Some 22 runners from Japan won five of the eight Thoroughbred races, from a $13.30 payoff low (dead heat) to a high of $123.70. Combined $2 win payoff: $202.30.