OLDSMAR, Fla. – In the new era of the Kentucky Derby points system, Tampa Bay Downs – like all other American tracks – is beholden to the whims of Churchill Downs officials who assign points to Derby preps.

The first Derby prep of the Tampa season comes up Saturday, and these are the points assigned to the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes: zero.

Last year, the first year for the points system, the Davis was worth 10 points to the winner, Falling Sky, who wound up 19th in the Kentucky Derby at 39-1.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher said Havana, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up, will not make the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 22 and could kick off his 3-year-old campaign in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes the following week instead.

“We got a little behind schedule with him, but hopefully we’ll be able to get him back on the work schedule this week and make the Swale,” Pletcher said. “If he runs well in the Swale, we’d still have time to give him two preps before the [Kentucky] Derby, although only one of them will be around two turns, that’s all.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin had a big day Saturday. Not only did he send out Cairo Prince to a convincing victory in the Holy Bull, but he also brought Abtaal back from a 17-month hiatus to win a second-level optional claimer on turf.

Abtaal, a son of Rock Hard Ten owned by Shadwell Stable, was a Group 3 winner as a 2-year-old in France but was sidelined for an extended period of time due to a chronic cannon-bone issue.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – John Velazquez was smiling as he walked back to the jockeys’ room after the last race here Sunday, even though he had just gotten beaten in the final strides of the finale aboard Sinatra. Although it would have been nice to end the weekend on a winning note, Velazquez was just happy to finally be back riding again.

Electric Eddie will be confined to his stall in coming weeks after undergoing surgery Monday to have three stabilizing screws placed in his left foreleg.

Trainer Ben Cecil said Tuesday that Electric Eddie emerged from the operation without mishap. Electric Eddie sustained a condylar fracture in the stretch of Saturday’s $250,500 California Cup Derby.

“He’s back in his stall,” Cecil said. “He’ll need quite a long time, but everything seems to have gone fairly well.

Lakerville gave trainer Barry Abrams his first stakes win since March 2012 in Sunday’s $92,200 Clocker’s Corner Stakes on the hillside turf course. He may have a short wait for another.

Lakerville is likely to make his next start in the $100,000 Sensational Star Stakes for California-breds over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course Feb. 22. Over the same course Sunday, Lakerville closed from fifth in a field of nine to win by 1 1/4 lengths in his first start since August 2012.

On Sunday, trainer Tom Amoss sent out Rise Up for a half-mile work in 49.80 seconds, the colt’s first breeze since he won the $1 million Delta Jackpot on Nov. 23 by six lengths.

Rise Up was freshened at a Florida farm for much of December before rejoining Amoss’s Fair Grounds stable. His connections are targeting the Grade 2 Risen Star on Feb. 22 for Rise Up’s first start at 3.

“His work went well, and things will get more intense as he goes forward now,” Amoss said.

Unknown Road gelded

Time flies when you’re having fun – especially when you’re having fun with top-notch sprinters. The highlights of an excellent day in the Tom Amoss barn totaled barely more than two minutes Saturday, as Delaunay won the Gaudin Memorial at Fair Grounds, going six furlongs in 1:09.58, and Sum of the Parts captured the Champion Energy Services Stakes at Sam Houston, setting a five-furlong course record of 56.28 seconds.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Steve Landers knows fast cars, and apparently, fast horses.

Landers is a prominent automobile dealer who after three weeks of racing at Oaklawn Park is tied atop the owner standings with Danny Caldwell. Landers has won 5 races from 19 starters, for stable earnings of $78,739. He is back in racing for the first time since the 1980s.

“It’s started out more than I expected,” Landers said of the meet. “We had three wins on the first day. That was a pretty good start.”