Girvin getting ready to return to racetrack

Girvin, who won the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes last summer and the $1 million Louisiana Derby last spring, is progressing toward his 4-year-old debut, trainer Joe Sharp said.

Girvin, who peaked in the Haskell and most recently finished fifth last fall in the Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park, has worked twice at owner Brad Grady’s Grand Oaks Farm in Florida. He was scheduled to breeze again early this week, Sharp said, and soon will be shipped into Sharp’s barn at Fair Grounds.

◗ Wynn Time, who has five wins and a second from six career starts, is scheduled to make his stakes debut March 10 at Oaklawn Park in the $125,000 Hot Springs Stakes, trainer Hugh Robertson said.

One of the top Illinois-breds in training, Wynn Time, a John Mentz homebred by Three Hour Nap, won his first two starts last year in Chicago, finished a solid second in November at Fair Grounds, and since has ripped through his first-, second-, and third-level allowance conditions at this meet. Robertson said he’d work Wynn Time about a week before the Hot Springs before shipping the 4-year-old gelding to Arkansas.

◗ Headlining the Thursday card at Fair Grounds is a second-level turf-sprint allowance race also open to $40,000 claimers. Ten are in the field’s main body, with two more entered for the main track only. Dark Arden is the choice to post an off-the-pace upset, provided the race stays on turf. On dirt, Restless Rambler could lead from start to finish.