Towser took a huge step forward when she moved to turf for her first start as a 4-year-old and will try to build on the strong performance when she runs in a first-level allowance/optional $25,000 claiming race that will serve as the feature Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The one-mile race on turf for fillies and mares goes as race 9 on a 10-race card that begins 12:40 p.m. Eastern.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A year ago this weekend, the owner-trainer team of Peter Kazamias and Dimitrios Synnefias won the Times Square division of the New York Stallion Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct with the maiden Kazmike. Sunday, that same owner-trainer duo – based at Penn National – will look to win the $200,000 Park Avenue division of the NYSS with the 3-year-old filly Athena Beach.

The Park Avenue, contested at 6 1/2 furlongs, drew a field of 10 and will go as race 8 on a nine-race program.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The debut scarcely could have been any flashier. American Rascal, a royally bred 2-year-old colt, won the second race Thursday at Keeneland by a widening 10 1/4 lengths that even had Wesley Ward grasping for superlatives.

“It’s humbling,” said Ward, whose dominance in early season 2-year-old races is as pronounced as ever this year. “Some of the horses the owners give me to train for them are just incredibly talented. Obviously, this colt is unbelievably fast.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was the fastest few minutes in sports, at least for the day. A flurry of important workouts from the top contenders for the May 6 Kentucky Derby all took place within a matter of moments early Friday at Churchill Downs, with their connections later expressing their satisfaction with how those horses are progressing with a little more than two weeks to the big race.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winters Lion shows an ugly-looking running line from his last effort, which may only serve to make him a value play in Saturday’s $100,000 Woodhaven Stakes for 3-year-olds going a mile on turf at Aqueduct.

Winters Lion finished next-to-last in the Black Gold Stakes at Fair Grounds on March 4. Trainer Joe Sharp is drawing a line through that non-effort.

“You could tell from the beginning he didn’t like it,” Sharp said of the Fair Grounds turf course, which had its issues all meet long.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Red Route One established himself as one of the top 3-year-olds this meet at Oaklawn Park. He doesn’t have a stakes win to show for his efforts but that could change Saturday in the $200,000 Bath House Row Stakes.

Surprisingly heads a strong field of fillies and mares in Saturday’s Dahlia Stakes on the Laurel Park turf.

The one-mile Dahlia is one of five $100,000 stakes on the card for 3-year-olds and up along with the Native Dancer at 1 1/8 miles, the King T. Leatherbury at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf, the Primonetta for fillies and mares at six furlongs, and the Henry S. Clark at one mile on turf.

A Phipps Stable homebred by Mastery, Surprisingly is from the family of Grade 1 winners Point of Entry, Pine Island, and Pleasant Home, and she’s lived up to her pedigree this year.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Defunded enters the Grade 2 Californian Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita with high expectations and low odds. He could start as the most heavily favored runner on the card.

Third last out in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap, Defunded goes into the Californian with attributes that include a cutback from 1 1/4 miles to a mile and one-eighth, easier company, and a speed-pace advantage. Defunded has the highest speed figures in the field, and he faces only one other front-runner.

Not one, but two older male dirt-route graded stakes races on April 22. Put them together and we’d really have something. Rainy forecasts in some jurisdictions, including Keeneland, cloud the picture. What’s clear: As always, we’re looking for value in two Saturday stakes.

Oaklawn Handicap

If the Oaklawn Handicap were a morning workout, I’d side with Charge It, a horse who has breezed like a beast since early in his 3-year-old season and continues looking very strong in online workout video.

Less strong: His actual performance in races.