ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Richard Mandella's stable has been the hottest in California stakes races this winter, with chances to add to the success in coming weeks.

In Saturday’s Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at Santa Anita, the Mandella-trained Linda’s Gift had an ideal trip as a stalker to win the $101,500 race for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf.

Mandella has won seven stakes since the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting began on Dec. 26, one more than Phil D’Amato.

“It’s been good so far," Mandella said of the season.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Early last fall, Easter was an allowance-class runner with more losses than wins since his arrival from France in winter 2021-2022.

The equation has changed dramatically in the last four months.

Easter is unbeaten in three consecutive turf stakes since late October, a winning streak that leaves the 6-year-old gelding as the favorite for Saturday’s Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in his 2024 debut.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Whittington Park and Anejo, separated by a half-length in Saturday’s $100,000 Haynesfield Stakes for New York-breds, could meet again in the Grade 2, $250,000 Carter Handicap here on April 6. The Carter was downgraded from a Grade 1 beginning with this year’s running.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With a berth in the Kentucky Derby virtually assured for the winner and with no clear standout, the field for Saturday’s Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct could border on the maximum 14 when entries are taken Wednesday.

As of Sunday, there were 15 3-year-olds being mentioned as possible for the Gotham, a one-turn-mile race that offers 50 Derby qualifying points to the winner, typically enough to crack the 20-horse Derby field.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas apparently has an outstanding recipe for lemon muffins.

It calls for a handful of runner-up finishes in maiden special weight sprint races, then a move to two turns for a major prep for the Kentucky Oaks. After about a minute and 45 seconds on the track, the batter will produce one standout Lemon Muffin.

That was the case Saturday, when Lemon Muffin won her maiden in the Grade 3, $400,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. In the process she picked up 50 points for the Kentucky Oaks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Timberlake is on schedule to advance to another Kentucky Derby prep after initially emerging from his winning 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $1.25 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park in excellent condition, trainer Brad Cox said on Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Judge Miller surprised his trainer and his rider Saturday at Santa Anita, where the lightly raced 4-year-old burst to prominence with a runaway allowance romp that earned a 105 Beyer, equaling the highest figure this year in North America.

Mark Glatt trains Judge Miller, a full brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Clairiere who was stretching to a mile after winning a maiden sprint in his second start. Glatt was confident the colt would appreciate two turns Saturday, but acknowledged the performance took him by surprise.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Dornoch, winner of the Grade 2 Remsen, and Locked, who finished a distant third as the tepid favorite in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, will make their much-anticipated 3-year-old debuts and figure to be the likely favorites in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream Park. 

The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth lured a field of nine, including Locked’s stablemate Speak Easy, who trainer Todd Pletcher also has entered in a 1 1/8-mile allowance race here on Friday.

The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit has dropped a case against trainer Jeffery Englehart after testing revealed that a banned drug, clenbuterol, could not have been administered while the horse was in his care, according to the organization.

The Jockey Club of Canada announced Thursday that Robert “Red” McKenzie will be presented with the Special Sovereign Award during the Sovereign Awards ceremony in April. 

Selected unanimously by The Jockey Club of Canada’s stewards, the Special Sovereign Award recognizes a particular achievement within a given year. The honor will be bestowed upon McKenzie for becoming the oldest trainer to saddle a winner in Canada, doing so at age of 96 on June 23, 2023, when his mare, Entitled Star, won the second race at Century Mile.