ARCADIA, Calif. – After Spellbound won the Grade 2 La Canada Stakes for 4-year-old fillies on Jan. 19, trainer Richard Mandella was adamant that her next start would be next Saturday’s $350,000 Santa Margarita Invitational at Santa Anita.

Mandella could have chosen a start in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes against older fillies and mares, but he wanted Spellbound to have a longer break between starts.

Friday, he stood by that decision and predicted Spellbound will be competitive in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita, which is run over 1 1/8 miles.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Louies Flower was to ship Saturday to Fair Grounds in New Orleans for a start in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby, trainer Bret Calhoun said. The 1 1/8-mile race is March 29.

Louies Flower has been wintering at Oaklawn Park, where he worked a bullet five furlongs in 59.40 seconds on Friday. He is coming off an uncharacteristic 12th-place finish in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest on Feb. 17. Prior to the race, Louies Flower had won three consecutive starts, punctuated by the $250,000 Springboard Mile at Remington Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Top Billing is off the Kentucky Derby trail after suffering a cracked cannon bone in his right front leg during a routine half-mile workout Saturday morning at Payson Park.

According to trainer Shug McGaughey, Top Billing had completed his work and was walking back to the barn when he detected the 3-year-old was not travelling well.

Oaklawn Park racing secretary Pat Pope is expecting a large field for next Saturday's Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel Stakes. Probables for the 1 1/16-mile race include Tapiture and Strong Mandate, who finished one-two in the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest last month at Oaklawn, and Kobe’s Back, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente at Santa Anita.

“I believe there will be 10 to 12 horses in the Rebel,” racing secretary Pat Pope said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Goldencents, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last November, has resumed serious training.

Thursday at Santa Anita, Goldencents breezed a half-mile in 53.80 seconds, his first work of the year. Trainer Doug O’Neill said he has not chosen a comeback race for Goldencents, who has not started since finishing seventh in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct in November.

“He’s back in the game,” O’Neill said. “I think we’re still four or five works from planning something. We’ll take our time.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – The 3-year-olds Bayern and Bond Holder, absent from major stakes Saturday because of foot ailments, had quiet days on Friday on opposite sides of the country.

Bayern was withdrawn from Saturday’s $300,000 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita because of foot bruise detected Thursday. He stayed in trainer Bob Baffert’s barn at Santa Anita on Friday.

“He won’t go to the track for a few days,” Baffert said. “He’s in a holding pattern.”

CYPRESS, Calif. – After a week lost to wet weather from Feb. 28 to March 2, Los Alamitos resumed its mixed meeting for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds this weekend, filling races without difficulty but still coping with small fields.

The track races from Friday through Sunday. This weekend, there were 59 horses entered in eight races for Friday, 60 in eight races for Saturday, and 59 entered for nine races Sunday. There are 12 races for Thoroughbreds racing for claiming prices of $5,000 or less, and 13 races for Quarter Horses at a variety of levels.

Veteran jockey John Jacinto, who hasn’t ridden in a race since breaking his left arm in a spill in May at Louisiana Downs, got on horses Wednesday and rode in workouts Thursday morning at Fair Grounds.

“I’m going to be here working the next couple weeks to be able to ride,” Jacinto said. “I’m going to be riding the last two weeks for sure. I need to get fit.”

Jacinto said he underwent four surgeries.

“They had to fix my bones and muscle,” he said. One surgery was to repair a tendon in his thumb, he said. Two plates were inserted in his arm, and one plate remains.

NEW ORLEANS – Jose Camejo’s career path in racing changed suddenly, with a spill in a race almost three years ago at Evangeline Downs.

In the sixth race on May 28, 2011, Camejo was riding Kellys Next Storm, who was running in second place when he slipped and fell at the quarter pole.

“People told me he got up and starting running again,” said Camejo, whose neck was broken.

He broke four vertebrae. He said he spent six days in a hospital but luckily didn’t need surgery.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Jerome Stakes winner Noble Moon continued his preparation for the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 5 with a four-furlong workout in 49.44 seconds Thursday morning over the Belmont Park training track. With Irad Ortiz Jr. up, Noble Moon went his first quarter in 24.30 seconds and his second quarter in 25.14 over a stretch that appeared to be on the deep side. Noble Moon galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.12 and six furlongs in 1:18.36.