Sunbean and Heitai, who rank among the top Louisiana-breds in training, both drew rail posts for their respective stakes engagements on Saturday night’s $1 million Louisiana Premier Night program at Delta Downs. The card features six stakes, all divisional races restricted to horses bred in Louisiana.

Heitai goes first in the second race, the $100,000 Sprint. Gerard Melancon has the mount from the fence in the five-furlong race for 4-year-olds and up. The field of six also includes Skip the Pinot and Louisiana Glory.

War Story, the runner-up in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes, likely will make his next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, co-owner Ron Paolucci said Wednesday.

“We’re 90 percent sure he’ll run in that spot,” said Paolucci, who races the horse with Christopher Dunn.

The Southwest is on Monday, Feb. 16, and the timing of the race works well for War Story, said Paolucci. The other option is to await the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star at the horse’s base of Fair Grounds on Feb. 21.

The New York-bred West Hills Giant has been nominated to several stakes on this circuit but is likely to make his next start Feb. 16 in the Grade 3, $250,000 General George Handicap at Laurel Park.

Trainer John Terranova said he prefers the seven-furlong distance of the General George to options at six furlongs or two-turn races at a mile and 1 1/16 miles available to him in New York.

Trying to return him to the form that made him a Grade 1 winner last April, trainer Rudy Rodriguez will equip Dads Caps with blinkers when the 5-year-old takes on Salutos Amigos and four others in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Six maiden winners will take on the multiple graded stakes winner El Kabeir in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Withers, run at 1 1/16 miles over the inner track, is the second of four races on this circuit for 3-year-olds who aspire to make it to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.

El Kabeir, trained by John Terranova for Zayat Stables, won last month’s Grade 3 Jerome by 4 3/4 lengths here and will likely be an odds-on favorite Saturday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Upstart, who stamped himself as a leading Kentucky Derby contender with his impressive victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes, blew out an easy half-mile in 50 seconds at Palm Meadows on Wednesday. The work was his first since the Holy Bull 10 days earlier. 

Trainer Rick Violette said he was hoping to wait for the weekend to breeze Upstart, but “he was getting more and more full of himself, so we just let him blow off some steam this morning.”

Jevian Toledo has been the hottest jockey at Laurel Park in recent weeks and comes into Friday’s card atop the rider standings.

Toledo, a 20-year-old native of Puerto Rico, went 8 for 28 at Laurel last week. During the weekend of Jan. 15-17, Toledo went 6 for 19. Laurel canceled racing Jan. 22-24 due to weather conditions.

Toledo enters the week with 19 wins since the meet began Jan. 1, three more than Sheldon Russell and six more than Victor Carrasco.

The Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile will be a Friday night affair for the first time this season at Lone Star Park. The Texas Mile and the Grade 3, $200,000 Lone Star Park Handicap are the richest offerings among 11 stakes worth a cumulative $1 million for the 50-date meet, which runs April 9 through July 19.

The Texas Mile is scheduled for Friday, April 24. The race for 3-year-olds and up had traditionally been run on a Saturday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Aqueduct canceled Wednesday’s live racing card due to concerns that warmer temperatures forecasted for the afternoon could create an uneven and unsafe inner track.

It was ninth cancellation of the winter.

Many of the cancellations have come due to extreme cold. Wednesday, the forecast for the afternoon was for temperatures near 40 degrees. While that sounds good, NYRA officials said there was plenty of moisture trapped at the base of the track that could melt and create a wet and potentially uneven surface.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Trainer Mark Casse has unleashed some quality 3-year-olds on the Oaklawn meet just three weeks into the season, and one of those winners will see stakes action in the immediate future. Casse said Kantune, who popped a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 in winning a maiden special weight route, is headed for the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest at Oaklawn.