Firing Line landed the rail and was installed as the 8-5 favorite when a field of eight was entered Wednesday for Sunday's Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park.

Gary Stevens rides Firing Line, who was a close second to Dortmund in the Robert Lewis and Los Alamitos Futurity in his last two starts. He is trained by Simon Callaghan.

From the rail out, the field for the 1 1/8-mile race is Firing Line, Lord Nelson, Where’s the Moon, Why Two, Malibu Mogul, Tiznow R J, Pain and Misery, and Dirt Monster. Lord Nelson is the second choice at 3-1.

Trainer Steve Asmussen is hoping a change in surface will help bring out the best in Tiznow R J. He believes the horse, coming off a rare off-the-board finish, is a talented individual, and Tiznow R J will get a shot to prove it Sunday in the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.

Tiznow R J was one of eight runners entered Wednesday in the 1 1/8-mile race, which along with the $200,000 Sunland Oaks will anchor the richest program of the meet at Sunland Park in New Mexico.

Arlington International released a pared-down 2015 stakes schedule Tuesday, but the International Festival of Racing, headlined by the Arlington Million, is still intact.

Arlington hosted 25 stakes worth about $5.5 million in 2014, but the schedule this year includes only 18 stakes worth about $3.5 million, of which five races worth $2,750,000 will be run on the same day, Aug. 15, Arlington Million Day. Three Grade 1 stakes will be run that day: The Million, the $750,000 Beverly D., and the $500,000 Secretariat.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – One of the most successful owner-trainer combinations in recent years on this circuit appears on the verge of parting ways.

For the last three years, no owner-trainer combination has won more races on the New York Racing Association circuit than Drawing Away Stable and David Jacobson. In each of the last three years, Drawing Away has finished first or second in the owners’ standings in wins, while Jacobson has been the leading trainer in wins. In 2013, Drawing Away led all owners on this circuit in wins (89) and purse money won ($4,055,505).

It’s about that time of year when Kentucky Derby nostalgia starts to surface. Carl Nafzger already is drawing inquiries about the 25th anniversary of Unbridled winning both the Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby on his way to winning the Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old male of 1990.

“That was a pretty good year, wasn’t it?” a smiling Nafzger said between races here this week.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of Spend a Buck winning the 1985 Kentucky Derby for trainer Cam Gambolati, whose stable is based here at Gulfstream.

Wildcat Red, who was named Florida-bred Horse of the Year for 2014 at the annual awards ceremony Monday night in Ocala, Fla., could return to light training around the first of April, according to trainer Jose Garoffalo.

Wildcat Red was diagnosed with a pulled back muscle when well beaten in the Jan. 17 Sunshine Millions Classic and is now walking the Garoffalo shed row at Gulfstream after getting time off. The 4-year-old Wildcat Red has earned $936,875.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Fillies and mares will take center stage on the main track Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where a pair of Grade 2, $200,000 races serve as nearly identical co-features on a 12-race program.

Distance is the only factor that differentiates the Inside Information, which will be run at seven furlongs, and the Royal Delta, a slightly longer race at 1 1/16 miles. Even the field size for both races – seven – was the same when entries were taken here Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the impressive winner of the Santa Anita Handicap on March 7, has resumed serious training for a spring campaign without a defined goal, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said Wednesday.

On Tuesday at Golden Gate Fields, Shared Belief worked a half-mile in 52.80 seconds, a slow time that left Hollendorfer unfazed.

“That’s not unusual for him,” Hollendorfer said.

Hollendorfer said a number of races, including the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap in Arkansas on April 11, are under consideration.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Argentine Grade 1 stakes winner Galicado will miss a start in the $2 million United Arab Emirates Derby in Dubai on March 28 because of illness, trainer Ron McAnally said Wednesday.

Galicado, who has yet to race in the U.S., was scheduled to depart Tuesday but remained at Santa Anita after being diagnosed with a temperature of 102.

Rodney Prescott has ridden 3,237 winners in his 22-year career. He rode 340 winners in 2005, finishing second among all North American riders that year to Hall-of-Famer Russell Baze, and he has long been highly regarded by his peers. He was selected as one of five finalists for the 2013 George Woolf Memorial Award, won by Mario Pino.

In a career with many highs, one of the few things the 41-year-old Prescott hasn’t done is win a graded stakes race. According to Daily Racing Form statistics, he is 0 for 9 in such races, with his best finishes being a pair of thirds.