The way trainer Jamie Ness sees it, Repo Rocks can be his own worst enemy.

“He’s a big horse who finds trouble a lot,” Ness said. “When he doesn’t find trouble, he runs pretty big numbers.”

Ness hopes Repo Rocks can work out a trouble-free trip Saturday when he cuts him back to 6 1/2 furlongs in the $100,000 Fire Plug, one of four stakes on the nine-race Laurel Park program that begins at 12:25 p.m.

A rainy forecast Friday night into Saturday in New Orleans has improved since the beginning of this week. That has not swayed trainer Larry Rivelli.

The Fair Grounds starting gate can accommodate 14 runners, and 14 3-year-olds are entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Lecomte Stakes, the first race in the second tier of qualifying races that comprise Churchill Downs’s Road to the Kentucky Derby.

There’s not always strength in numbers, however, and Built, the 3-1 Lecomte morning-line favorite, stands a strong chance of tacking 20 more Kentucky Derby qualifying points onto the 10 he earned winning the Gun Runner last month.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Except for shuffling post positions, the California Cup on Saturday at Santa Anita is virtually the same as Jan. 11, when the entire program was postponed due to what Santa Anita called “overnight developments with the wildfires on the west side of Los Angeles.”

The fires continue to burn, but racing marches on, and the final two statebred stakes Saturday look like the final two races scheduled one week ago. Every original runner re-entered, including a pair of 3-year-olds fresh off stakes wins at Los Alamitos.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Comedy Town and Damon’s Mound, a couple of multiple stakes-winning Florida-breds who have enjoyed considerable success throughout their careers racing in open company, will make a rare appearance against statebreds when vying for favoritism Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $75,000 Sunshine Sprint. The six-furlong fixture shares top billing on an excellent 11-race program with the $75,000 Sunshine Turf, a race also restricted to Florida-breds to be decided at 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

There are no major changes for Saturday’s rescheduled California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.

Big City Lights remains a heavy favorite to beat four rivals in the $125,000 race at six furlongs for statebreds. Only the post positions were altered when the race was redrawn following the cancellation of the Jan. 11 program due to the devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Running Away made her first two starts on turf, trainer Wesley Ward said that was more about distance than surface for the daughter of Gun Runner.

After two narrow defeats on the grass, Running Away showed what Ward was hoping to see when she won a dirt maiden race by five lengths in November at Churchill Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Cup program at Santa Anita has been pushed around over the years, but never postponed by fire until this season.

A week later than scheduled, the five-stakes program for California-breds will be run this Saturday. In the grand scheme, it’s no big deal. There are more pressing concerns than a one-week postponement from Jan. 11 to Jan. 18 due to fires ravaging Southern California.

Twenty months separated Skinner’s maiden victory and his second trip to the winner’s circle. The wait could be much shorter for his third win.

Skinner is one of 10 older horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Louisiana Stakes. He’s set to make his first start outside of California and first since being moved to trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Owner C R K Racing had an invitation to the Pegasus World Cup but passed in favor of a softer race at the track where Skinner has been training.

“It’s a good spot for us to get a line on him,” DeVaux said.