HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If there is any consolation for trainer Todd Pletcher after his 8-5 morning-line favorite Fierceness drew post position 10 for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park, it’s the fact the reigning juvenile champion will break one spot closer to the rail than his 1-5 favorite Forte did in the important Kentucky Derby prep here one year ago.

The 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby will be run as the finale on a 14-race program with first post at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

Dornoch, the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner, will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 6, trainer Danny Gargan said Saturday.

“It’s been my plan since December,” Gargan said. “All our owners want to run in the Blue Grass, if he wins it makes him more valuable as a stallion. He won over the track, it’s one ship, and three days after the race I’ll be at Churchill.”

The California Horse Racing Board voted 6-0 on Thursday to allocate racing dates for a season beginning in October at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton that will serve as a replacement for Golden Gate Fields, which is scheduled to close in June.

The dates allocation is the first stage of an approval process. Organizers of the proposed race meeting must submit a detailed license application to the racing board later this year, most likely in August, before receiving full accreditation for a 26-day meeting scheduled from Oct. 19 to Dec. 15.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- Due to a forecast that calls for heavy rain and wind Saturday, Aqueduct will move the eight-race program scheduled for that day to Sunday, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday afternoon. The card will be run as originally drawn.

According to weather.com, there is a chance Saturday for between one and two inches of rain with winds between 10 and 20 miles per hour and a high of 51 degrees. The forecast for Sunday calls for mostly sunny skies and high near 47.

Sierra Leone, winner of the Grade 2 Risen Star in his most recent start, closed as the favorite in last weekend’s Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool, followed by last year’s 2-year-old champion, Fierceness.

Sierra Leone, who is being pointed to the April 6 Blue Grass Stakes for his final Derby prep, was 7-1 at the close of betting, tops among the 39 individual interests. Fierceness, who has a single start this year, closed at 9-1. Fierceness is being pointed to the Florida Derby.

Mike Gillum, a produce-company manager from Indianapolis, Ind., squeaked into the final round of the National Horseplayers Championship on Sunday but used a strong run in the semifinals and finals to take the overall title, winning the $800,000 first-place prize.

Gillum, a regular at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, was in 64th place after two days of play on Saturday night, when the cut line was set at 77 entries. He set his handicapping strategy early on Sunday morning and stuck to it.

Nutella Fella, who upset the Grade 1 Hopeful at 54-1 last September, and Becky’s Joker, the 21-1 winner of the Grade 3 Schuylerville in July, are both in training at separate facilities in Ocala, Fla., and are being prepared for a late spring return, trainer Gary Contessa said Sunday.

Leave No Trace, the Grade 1 Spinaway winner in 2022, won her first race since then when she captured a second-level allowance race by a neck Sunday at Aqueduct.

After dueling outside of Starship Defiant and wresting the lead from that one at the eighth pole, Leave No Trace held off a rail run from Dame Cinco to get the victory in the 6 1/2-furlong race.