OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Antonio of Venice finished ahead of Heavyweight Champs the lone time they met in last December’s Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Series, trainer Rudy Rodriguez doesn’t think the best horse of his won the race.

“I think he’s a little better than Antonio,” Rodriguez said of Heavyweight Champs.

Sunday’s $100,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-bred 3-year-olds at Aqueduct will put that theory to the test when Antonio of Venice and Heavyweight Champs comprise 40 percent of the five horses entered in the six-furlong race.

Layoffs are not an issue for Chancery Way, who starts with a leading chance in Sunday’s $100,000 Irish O’Brien Stakes for California-bred fillies and mares at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.

In the last 16 months, Chancery Way has returned from rests of two to four months between starts to win or finish second in three stakes.

The Irish O’Brien will be Chancery Way’s first start in nine weeks, since a second by a nose in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint for statebred fillies and mares on the hillside on Jan. 13.

John Stewart emerged last fall as a major new player in the Thoroughbred marketplace, purchasing everything from weanlings to broodmares with the goal of developing a full-scale breed-to-race operation in Kentucky. While waiting for his homebreds and young stock to mature, he also has recently made moves to acquire active racehorses in the private sector. He will now also likely have several juveniles active this year, as he was again among the leading buyers at a major-market auction, with acquisitions for his Resolute Racing string at OBS March led by a $1 million Authentic colt.

Last year’s yearling marketplace was strong, leading to questions about how pinhookers might make a profit as many had to pay more on their initial investment. The team of Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo has proved time and again that it can be done, and the savvy pinhook partnership hit home runs with two seven-figure sales as the juvenile sales season opened at OBS March.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Will the third time finally prove the charm when it comes to Valiant Force’s eagerly anticipated main-track debut, which is now slated to come Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $100,000 Hutcheson Stakes?

Valiant Force first gained international notoriety by winning the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at odds of 150-1 last summer at Royal Ascot. He was back in the limelight again 4 1/2 months later, also on an international stage, when finishing a fast-closing second, beaten a half-length by Big Evs, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Walter Blum, the Hall of Fame jockey who posted a prodigious number of wins before retiring from the saddle and serving for decades as a steward in Florida, died early Thursday in Hallandale Beach, Fla., of complications of lung disease, according to family members. Blum was 89.

Blum, who was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1987, led the United States in wins in both 1963 and 1964. He rode primarily in New York and New Jersey, though he traveled out-of-state for high-profile rides.

The field-size problem in American racing is evident in Saturday’s stakes.

At Oaklawn, the Purple Martin drew six entrants, the Whitmore seven. The lone open stakes at Laurel, the Harrison Johnson, got seven, as did the Hutcheson at Gulfstream. The Pasadena at Santa Anita lured a grand total of five 3-year-old turf horses; the San Marcos has seven, but The Chosen Vron is odds-on.

Jockey Ruben Silvera will likely be out five weeks after breaking his collarbone in a spill Monday at Parx, according to his agent, Richard Englander.

Silvera and apprentice jockey Eliseo Ruiz, also involved in the spill, were named on horses Thursday at Aqueduct but did not ride. Ruiz, according to Englander, had a hoof imprint on his left forearm but X-rays taken on the arm were negative. Ruiz is expected to miss one week. A third rider involved in the spill, Julio Correa, was fine and rode Tuesday and Wednesday at Parx.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Tejano Twist will be looking to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Whitmore for the second year in a row Saturday at Oaklawn Park, and the tactics his connections plan to employ are already known far and wide for the six-furlong dirt sprint.

“There’s no secret to him how he’s going to be running,” trainer Chris Hartman said. “He’s a very theatrical runner, comes from the back of the bus. He’s fun to watch run. I’ve had people tell me how much they enjoy watching him with that kick. He has that marvelous kick.”

Just a Touch, second as the favorite in the Gotham Stakes, is expected to have a workout Saturday at Belmont Park, as his connections continue to mull over where he will make his next start.

The Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 6 is a possibility, as is the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland the same day. Dustin Dugas, the New York-based assistant to trainer Brad Cox said there is tentatively a van lined up to take Just a Touch to Kentucky on Tuesday.