HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – He’s not even in the top 10 in the standings for the Gulfstream championship meeting, but ask local horseplayers who the hottest trainer on the grounds has been of late, and most will likely answer Saffie Joseph Jr.

Sunland Park officials anticipate drawing 3-year-olds from California, Florida, and the Midwest for the New Mexico track’s richest Thoroughbred offerings, the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby and the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The races will anchor a card of seven stakes on March 26.

There were 458 nominations, which were free, for the 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby in February, and this week the track had a working list of 13 probables. Entries will be taken next Wednesday, said Dustin Dix, director of racing operations for Sunland. The maximum gate is 12.

Katie Davis, who went down in a nasty-looking spill at Laurel Park last Saturday, was too sore to ride the next day but was not badly injured, according to her agent, the former rider Joe Rocco.

“All of the X-rays came back negative,” said Rocco, a winner of 3,732 races between 1978 and 2013. “She should be back riding Friday.”

Rocco also represents 10-pound apprentice Sarah Shaffer, who last Sunday rode for the first time since breaking ribs and her collarbone in a Nov. 11 spill. Shaffer needs one more win to trigger the beginning of her one-year apprenticeship.

There is a lot going on at Laurel Park on Saturday. The track has five stakes, a luncheon for all current owners and breeders, and a Fantasy Owners Day schedule of events for those wanting to learn more about racehorse ownership.

The Fantasy Owners agenda, sponsored by the Maryland Jockey Club, the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, has drawn more interest than originally anticipated, according to Sal Sinatra, president of the Maryland Jockey Club.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Finest City, last year’s champion female sprinter, will stretch out to 1 1/8 miles on Saturday in the Grade 1, $400,000 Santa Margarita Stakes, the championship race of the meet for older females.

Finest City won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint here last fall and in her only start since then captured the Grade 2 Santa Monica here on Jan. 21. Both races were at seven furlongs. The Santa Margarita will be her first start at 1 1/8 miles.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Grade 1 status of the $1 million Santa Anita Derby, coupled with the defection of Mastery from the potential lineup, has caused trainer Todd Pletcher to consider the race for a couple of his Kentucky Derby prospects, he said on Wednesday.

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others. It also is the title of a Steely Dan song from the 1970s.

Confusing? Well, so is Bodhisattva, the horse. Jose Corrales has trained Bodhisattva for three years but is still trying to get a handle on him.

“He is a complicated horse,” Corrales said. “He can fool you.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Classic Empire and McCraken have a lot in common. The two top-ranked 3-year-olds on this week’s Derby Watch list have spent the winter at the Palm Meadows training center, where they’ve both encountered minor issues that forced them to miss some training time.

Both are being pointed to the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on April 8, and both turned in important works over the weekend that had their connections smiling.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – A trio of stakes horses from Florida flew into Little Rock, Ark., on Monday and arrived on the Oaklawn backstretch by midday, track spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyt said. The horses all were from the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher. Malagacy goes in the Rebel, while Madefromlucky is being pointed for the Essex Handicap and Eskenformoney is among the nominees for the Azeri.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There appears to be an ample amount of speed signed on for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, with such 3-year-olds as American Anthem, Malagacy, Royal Mo, and Uncontested all candidates for the 1 1/16-mile race Saturday. That sits really well with trainer Randy Morse, who will send out the promising Tapit colt Silver Dust.

“The faster they go up front, the better it is for him,” Morse said.