Egg Drop, the winner of three consecutive graded stakes at the end of 2013, is on schedule for her 2014 debut in the $200,000 Buena Vista Stakes over a mile on turf on Feb. 17.

Egg Drop won the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Dec. 1. Following that race, the Little Red Feather Racing syndicate, which owns the 5-year-old mare, considered selling Egg Drop at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, but opted to keep her in training with Mike Mitchell.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013, had a patch placed on a quarter crack on his right front foot earlier this week, and is scheduled to resume racetrack training this weekend, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said on Friday.

Hollendorfer had hoped to send Shared Belief to the Santa Anita main track on Friday, but postponed the exercise until the weekend after rain late Thursday left moisture in the track. There were only nine workouts on the main track at Santa Anita on Friday.

Please Explain, a six-length winner of the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs last weekend under Julien Leparoux, will make her next start in the Grade 2 Davona Dale on Feb. 22 at Gulfstream.

In the Suncoast aftermath, trainer Tom Proctor said he likely would send Please Explain, a 3-year-old filly by Curlin, elsewhere for an upcoming stakes.

“She’s won over the track at Gulf and Julien’s right there,” he said. “We’ll see what she’s got against some of those nice fillies.”

Noble Cornerstone will try again

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Ever since he romped in his career debut two years ago at 15-1, Bourbon Courage has never been higher than 6-1 in 13 subsequent starts. That’s even as he competed with regularity in graded stakes and against such heavy-heads as Shackleford, Graydar, Will Take Charge, and Game On Dude.

Those tote prices have been a pretty fair gauge of his ability. But when Bourbon Courage goes postward Sunday in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park, it probably will be at his longest odds since his unveiling on Feb. 3, 2012, at Fair Grounds.

The Emerald Downs stakes schedule for 2014 looks almost identical to the one from a year ago, with 28 Thoroughbred stakes worth a combined $1,610,000 in purses. The schedule, released by the suburban Seattle track on Thursday, features 10 stakes for older horses, 10 for 3-year-olds, eight for 2-year-olds, plus one stakes for Quarter Horses.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The Ontario division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association announced Friday that Fort Erie will stage live racing in 2014.

Details will be announced later, after meetings are held to organize the meet, according to HBPA president Sue Leslie.

NEW ORLEANS – At age 25 with more than 1,000 career victories, jockey Chris Landeros decided the timing was right to bring his tack to Fair Grounds.

“It’s always been in the back of my mind to try the Fair Grounds,” Landeros said during a break from working horses one morning this week. “I love it. Everything’s going good.’’

A particularly productive day was Jan. 31, when Landeros won three races in a row, starting with the third race.

“Sometimes you just feel it, and it’s going well,’’ he said.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– The Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap and the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap will be worth $600,000 each when they are run in April after Oaklawn Park on Friday announced the purse for each would be boosted by $100,000. The Apple Blossom, a mile and a sixteenth race for fillies and mares, will be run April 11, while the Oaklawn Handicap, at a mile and an eighth, is part of the Arkansas Derby closing-day card April 12.

Though Kiaran McLaughlin’s stable will be represented in Saturday’s $100,000 Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct, it will be with the maiden winner Sustainable and not the Ruthless Stakes winner Mamdooha.

Mamdooha, who has won three consecutive races after losing her debut, is being pointed to the $100,000 Cicada Stakes on March 15, said Art Magnuson, McLaughlin’s New York-based assistant.

“We figured we’d skip one of them, instead of being in all of them, just freshen a little bit,” Magnuson said.

Churchill Downs officials on Thursday released the stakes schedule for the 2014 spring meet, with little change from the status quo and an increase in stakes purses of almost 3 percent.

The 140th Kentucky Derby on May 3 serves as the traditional high point of the meet, which features 24 stakes worth almost $7.7 million in total.

The $2 million Kentucky Derby will culminate a weekend that includes 11 other stakes, most notably the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on May 2.