HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Michael Yates will learn more about his improving 3-year-old Frankie’s Empire and his 3-year-old filly Fiona’s Magic when they run in graded stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Frankie’s Empire, who won the seven-furlong Swale Stakes in his first start for Yates, will take on Dornoch and Locked in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes while Fiona’s Magic, runner-up in the Grade 3 Forward Gal, takes on last year’s 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Plans for Woodcourt, who ran fourth in the Rebel on Saturday after breaking from post 12, are to be determined, trainer Cipriano Contreras said Tuesday.

“I really don’t know what we’re going to do next,” he said. “We’ll see.”

Contreras said Woodcourt will be considered for the Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby on March 30, but also the $200,000 Hot Springs, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds here March 23.

Harr nears return

A brother act from Florida could invade Oaklawn for next month’s Racing Festival of the South.

Octane, a multiple stakes winner who shipped in to win the Grade 3, $600,000 Razorback here Saturday, and Gatsby, his stakes-winning full brother, are being considered for some local races, said Brian Cohen, president of their breeder and owner, Arindel.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Last Samurai, a $2.2 million earner who won two-thirds of the handicap series last season at Oaklawn Park, is back on the work tab in Arkansas.

He is gearing up for a 6-year-old campaign, but there is not a specific target for his return, trainer Eddie Milligan Jr. said Tuesday.

“I worked him a half-mile last weekend and he handled it well,” Milligan said. “We’re moving forward.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tessuto won his first start at a mile in a maiden race at Santa Anita last Sunday in a manner that left trainer George Papaprodromou considering a start in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 6.

After finishing third in two maiden races for sprinters earlier this winter, Tessuto closed from third in a field of six to win by 2 1/2 lengths on Sunday. Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Tessuto was timed in 1:37.90 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 79.

The $750,000 Santa Anita Derby is run at 1 1/8 miles.

“We may give it a shot,” Papaprodromou said.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Stakes-placed Tapalo is the latest California 3-year-old targeting an out-of-state stakes. Stronghold won in New Mexico, Slider runs Saturday in New York, and now Tapalo is heading to Kentucky for the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks on March 23 at Turfway Park.

John Sadler trains Tapalo, the better-than-looked runner-up in the El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 10 at Golden Gate Fields. Both tracks, Turfway and Golden Gate, have synthetic surfaces.

The multiple graded stakes-winning 4-year-old filly Vahva is back on a steady work pattern at Fair Grounds after getting some winter down time at the track.

Vahva last raced Oct. 21 at Keeneland, where she won the Grade 2 Raven Run by a half-length over the high-quality Alva Starr. Vahva’s connections wanted to send her to California for the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes, but suitable transport could not be arranged. Trainer Cherie DeVaux at one point targeted the Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream Park, but instead freshened up Vahva for a spring and summer campaign.

Intricate came out of her second-place finish Feb. 17 in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes in good shape and remains on track to make her next start March 23 in the Fair Grounds Oaks, trainer Brendan Walsh said Sunday.

Walsh hopes to get Intricate to the Kentucky Oaks, which he won last year with Pretty Mischievous. Champion 3-year-old filly of 2023, Pretty Mischievous had her first work as a 4-year-old last week in Florida.

The connections of the exciting 3-year-old gelding Doncho evidently have dutifully been vaccinated against Derby Fever.

Doncho began his career Dec. 30 at Fair Grounds with a five-length maiden win over six furlongs that yielded a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. He returned Feb. 13 in a first-level allowance race over the same distance and won by 4 1/2 lengths with another 94 Beyer. Doncho’s trainer, Michelle Lovell, said the plan is to stretch Doncho out in distance, but only to seven furlongs in the $400,000 Lafayette Stakes April 5 at Keeneland.