Cedartown looked like graded stakes material winning his two most recent starts and is on track to prove he belongs at that level later this month.

Whether Cedartown’s graded stakes debut comes in the Grade 3 Mineshaft on Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds or in the Grade 3 Razorback on Feb. 19 at Oaklawn Park hasn’t yet been fully determined, trainer Mike Stidham said. But while the Razorback is worth $500,000 and the Mineshaft just $150,000, Cedartown is more likely to stay home in New Orleans for his upcoming start.

The biggest day so far at the 2017-18 Tampa Bay Downs meet will be Saturday, when Catholic Boy and Hollywood Star clash in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes and turf champion World Approval preps for a trip to Dubai in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes.

Catholic Boy, a 4 3/4-length winner of the Remsen Stakes in his final start at 2, figures as a decisive favorite when he makes his 3-year-old debut in the $200,000 Sam Davis, a 1 1/16-mile race that offers 17 qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby, including 10 to the winner.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Norman Casse, longtime assistant to his father, Mark Casse, will launch his training career when sending out Rate of Return in Wednesday’s fifth race. Casse has surrended his assistant’s license to the stewards in lieu of taking out his trainer’s license.

“The big question I get is why am I doing this now,” the younger Casse said. “From a personal and professional standpoint, I’m bored. I think I’ve maxed out my capacity as an assistant trainer and I’m ready to take the next step forward.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Less than 24 hours after finishing second and third, respectively, with Free Drop Billy and Tiz Mischief in the Grade 2 Holy Bull, trainer Dale Romans may have found himself another Kentucky Derby candidate after Storm Runner outlasted odds-on favorite Mississippi to capture Sunday’s co-feature going 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Queen’s Plate winner Holy Helena proved she’s just as good on turf as on dirt and synthetic surfaces when making her grass bow a winning one in Sunday’s $53,000 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park. Holy Helena rallied wide under Jose Ortiz before running down the pacesetting Kylla Instinct and outfinishing the highly regarded Shaan to register a hard-fought neck decision in her first start since running second in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby nearly four months ago.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Sometimes you never know what little surprises you’re going to get during the Gulfstream Park Championship meet. Friday’s card is a case in point, where mixed in among the regular weekday fare of so many maiden and low-level conditioned claiming races is a main event that features the 2018 debut of one of the premier sprinters in the country, Mind Your Biscuits, and the return of the undefeated, Grade 3 winner One Liner.

The West Virginia Racing Commission on Monday voted 3-0 to approve the $1.2 million purse of the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic and the track’s 2018 stakes schedule. The decision came 13 days after the commission voted 2-0 to limit the Classic purse to $300,000.

The West Virginia Racing Commission is a three-person panel consisting of chairman Jack Rossi and commissioners Ken Lowe and Anthony Figaretti.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Untamed Domain could make his dirt debut in the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby as he attempts to enter the Kentucky Derby picture following a decent third-place finish as the 6-5 favorite Saturday in the Dania Beach Stakes on the Gulfstream turf.

“Right now, Tampa is our choice,” said Terry Finley, president of the colt’s ownership group, West Point Thoroughbreds.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Strike Power passed another test with flying colors by winning the Swale Stakes last weekend at Gulfstream Park. Now comes deeper water for a 3-year-old colt who has earned the right to give the Kentucky Derby trail a try.

Trainer Mark Hennig said the March 3 Fountain of Youth could be the next start for Strike Power after the chestnut Speightstown colt led all the way in a dominating 2 3/4-length victory here Saturday under leading jockey Luis Saez in the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs. The Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth goes at 1 1/16 miles.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Unique Bella, the champion female sprinter of 2017, will be heavily favored in her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares at Santa Anita.

Unique Bella has started once at this meeting, winning the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes at seven furlongs for 3-year-old fillies on the Dec. 26 opening-day program.

In the $200,000 Santa Maria, Unique Bella is expected to face Gratzie, Majestic Heat, Mopotism, and Shenandoah Queen.