OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With 23 wins and slightly more than $1 million in purse earnings, 69-year-old John Toscano Jr. in 2013 enjoyed his most successful year in nearly three decades of training horses.

Toscano kicked off 2014 in winning fashion when My Lucky Lieu won a maiden $12,500 claiming race on Thursday’s card at Aqueduct. Sunday, Toscano hopes Miss Da Point can pick up where she left off when she runs in the $75,000 Judy Soda Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares at one mile.

NEW ORLEANS – Trainer Louie Roussel III, who won three races on the Dec. 27 card at Fair Grounds, said he isn’t sure if he had a previous three-win day at his hometown track. If he did, he said, it happened more than 25 years ago.

About that long ago, Risen Star was making Roussel known nationally. In 1988, Risen Star, trained by Roussel and owned by him and Ronnie Lamarque, won the Preakness and Belmont Stakes en route to earning the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old male.

Dylan Davis was conspicuous by his presence earlier this week at Turfway Park when the 19-year-old apprentice rode three winners on the last two days of 2013.

Davis had a combined five mounts Monday and Tuesday at the northern Kentucky track. The mounts were lined up by Jimmy McNerney, who has worked as Davis’s agent for much of the year.

“We were just trying to pad our stats as much as we could before the year ended,” McNerney said. “Every little bit helps, I guess.”

ARCADIA, Calif. - Sushi Empire won the first stakes of 2014 in California in Wednesday’s $79,000 Blue Norther Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf. It was Sushi Empire’s first win and fifth start.

After the race, trainer Eoin Harty said Sushi Empire could switch surfaces this winter and start on dirt.

“I’ll ask the owner if he wants to contemplate the dirt,” Harty said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Tyler Baze was winless with five mounts on Wednesday, his first day of riding since June following a suspension for alcohol abuse.

Baze, 31, was third with two mounts – Q’Viva in the seventh and Grand Humor in the ninth.

“It was a good day,” Baze said after the last race. “The winners will come.

“I thought I’d get tired, but I felt good. I could have ridden another five.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Several promising 3-year-old prospects who skipped Wednesday’s Gulfstream Park Derby will clash in Friday’s $48,750 allowance feature at 1 1/8 miles, a group that includes Hy Kodiak Warrior and the undefeated Top Billing, along with Cousin Stephen and Commissioner, both of whom already have won at nine furlongs.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Noble Moon heads a field of eight 3-year-olds hoping to take their first steps down the Triple Crown trail in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.

The Jerome, at a mile and 70 yards, is the first race of the year that offers qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby, a system put in place last year by Churchill Downs which replaced a system that emphasized graded stakes earnings. Last year, the Jerome did not offer points. This year, it offers 17 points (10-4-2-1) to the top four finishers.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer John Sadler will know in about a month whether his 2014 stable can keep pace with the group that provided him with a career-best year in 2013.

Last year, Sadler’s runners earned $7,727,780, good enough to rank ninth among the nation’s trainers. He won 121 races. While Sadler has ranked higher nationally in the past – eighth with $7,327,753 in 2008 – and has won more races – 132 in 2010 – his stable won more money than ever before in 2013.

Gervinho, the improving turf horse who overcame a seemingly impossible trip to win the Grade 2 Sir Beaufort Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, will be on the sidelines the remainder of the winter season.

Trainer Carla Gaines said Wednesday the 4-year-old Gervinho “needs a break.” Though she declined to be specific, Gaines suggested that Gervinho only needed time. She expects him to return in top form the second half of 2014.

“He’s going to have a vacation in preparation for a summer-fall campaign,” Gaines said.