Knock It Off will be an odds-on favorite to win his second race from two starts when he faces no more than six foes in Friday’s featured sixth race, a 3-year-old restricted first-level sprint allowance with a $125,000 claiming option that none of the entrants will run under.

Knock It Off aced his Jan. 17 debut, leading wire to wire and running six furlongs in 1:09.47, good for an 89 Beyer Speed Figure. Runner-up Trouble Calling validated the performance with a blowout maiden sprint win this past Saturday that yielded a 91 Beyer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Balboa, third in the Grade 2 Remsen in December, and runner-up in the Jerome in January, will make a return visit to Aqueduct on Feb. 28 for the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes, trainer Brittany Russell said Wednesday.

Balboa is entered in Saturday’s Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park but will scratch.

Russell said a Thursday workout at Laurel still has to be gotten through but barring something unforeseen there, the Gotham is the plan for Balboa.

Hit Show eked out a victory Saturday over pacesetting Accelerize in the Mineshaft Stakes, his raw time of 1:42.49 for 1 1/16 miles producing a modest 92 Beyer Speed Figure. But the Mineshaft served as a mere means to an end, that being a return to the Dubai World Cup, which Hit Show upset in April.

Florent Geroux urged Hit Show out of the gate Saturday, and the horse raced much closer to the pace than usual, a tactical adjustment required by what many viewed as an inside-biased racing surface.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Haulin Ice can become the first Arkansas-bred to reach millionaire status on Friday, when the South Florida-based runner returns to her home state to defend her title in the $150,000 Downthedustyroad Breeders’ Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

The six-furlong race is for fillies and mares bred in Arkansas. The field of nine includes Hush It Honey, who is coming off a pair of dominant wins against open company, and Caliente Star, who won last year’s Rainbow Miss at Oaklawn.

An untimely fever kept Magnitude from shipping to last weekend’s Saudi Cup, a change in schedule that keeps him following directly in the hoofprints of a famed predecessor.

Gun Runner, like Magnitude, was trained by Steve Asmussen for Ron Winchell’s Winchell Thoroughbreds. During his 3-year-old season, Gun Runner finished a distant third in the Travers, a much closer second in the Pennsylvania Derby, and capped his campaign beating older horses in the Clark Stakes.

WHO’S HOT

Paladin came off a 10-week layoff to run down a loose-on-the-lead Chip Honcho and win the Grade 2 Risen Star, his second win at 1 1/8 miles, and improve his record to 3 for 3. David Aragona, who last week installed Paladin as the 10-1 favorite on his Derby Watch line, has lowered him to 6-1.

ARCADIA, Calif. – California’s wettest month has disrupted Santa Anita racing. It does rain in February.

The latest storm caused outright cancellation of Monday’s card and is followed by an all-dirt program Friday. Two and a half inches of rain early this week has rendered the turf course unusable until the weekend.

Santa Anita and Del Mar rely on turf – 48 percent of races the past year were turf races. When turf is unavailable, the result is a card like Friday – nine races with small fields. But there is one saving grace.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Thankfully has posted career-best Beyer Speed Figures in her last two starts, with both races decided over Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta course. The question is whether she can duplicate those performances when returning to turf and stepping up in company to face 10 rivals in Friday’s wide-open $86,000 allowance feature.

Fulleffort

Colt by Liam’s Map – Callmethesqueeze, by Awesome Again

Bred in Kentucky by Athens Woods LLC ($425,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling purchase by St. Elias Stable and Starlight Racing)

While it is certainly the road less traveled, the synthetic path to the Kentucky Derby has proven quite effective the last several years, with at least one horse finishing in the top four in three of the last four Derbies.

In 2022, Rich Strike made three consecutive starts over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface – not winning any – before pulling off an 80-1 shocker in the Kentucky Derby. The following year Two Phil’s – who had plenty of dirt form – won the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway prior to finishing a strong second to Mage in the Run for the Roses.