ARCADIA, Calif. – March could be a big month for trainer Richard Mandella. If all goes according to plan, Beholder will make her first start of 2014, Setsuko will try again to win the Santa Anita Handicap, and Indy Point will run in a lucrative race in Dubai.

While those three head in different directions short term, Mandella hopes all three end their campaigns next fall at Santa Anita. When asked to identify their long-term goals, Mandella cracked, “The Breeders’ Cup next year.” It is not that far-fetched.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With things coming together for an alluring matchup between Game On Dude and Will Take Charge in the signature race of the Churchill Downs fall meet, the Grade 1 Clark Handicap, there’s this question: Which horse will be favored?

Clearly, part of that depends on the complexion of the 1 1/8-mile race, for example, what other pace will be present to challenge Game On Dude. Other probable starters for the $500,000 Clark, to be run next Friday, Nov. 29, include Bourbon Courage, Finnegans Wake, Prayer for Relief, and hopefully at least a couple more.

NEW ORLEANS – As rivalries go, it has been more than a little one-sided: The tally stands at Delaunay 4, Gantry 0. But who knows where things stand when the two best sprinters at Fair Grounds meet again next Thursday in the $100,000 Thanksgiving Handicap?

Justin Evans, the runaway leader in the trainer standings at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., will be out in full force Sunday when Zia Park puts on an 11-race Thoroughbred card led by the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks. Evans has nine starters on the program, including representatives in three of the five stakes. The stakes are worth a combined $845,000.

Evans has Lady of Luck in the 1 1/16-mile Oaks. She missed by a neck in a second-level allowance at Zia on Oct. 19.

“She ran a really good race and seems to be improving by big strides every time we lead her up there,” Evans said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – P.J. Campo, the newly appointed vice president of racing for the Stronach Group, spent his first week on the job getting used to the lay of the land at Gulfstream Park, and he saw a lot of very familiar faces during his first meet-and-greet with local horsemen.

Flat Out is in, and Alpha is now on the fence for the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Nov. 30 at Aqueduct.

Flat Out, the two-time winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup who finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic earlier this month, is on schedule for the Cigar Mile, trainer Bill Mott said from Florida on Wednesday.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Trainer Ron Ellis will be saying good-bye soon to one of his stable stars, the sprint mare Teddy’s Promise, who will become a broodmare next spring. She will race at least once more and no more than twice, beginning with the $100,000 Playa Del Rey Stakes going six furlongs at Hollywood Park on Dec. 15.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Cluster of Stars, the undefeated and multiple graded stakes-winning New York-bred filly, has been retired from racing, her connections said Wednesday.

Cluster of Stars, who was training toward a start in the Grade 2, $300,000 Go for Wand at Aqueduct on Nov. 29, did not come back from her most recent workout on Nov. 11 satisfactory and the decision was made to stop on her.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The last time Centralinteligence was seen, nearly three weeks ago, he was being removed from the track at Santa Anita after being injured in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

It certainly looked like his racing career was in jeopardy, and it still may be, but Centralinteligence’s recovery from surgery to repair a condylar fracture to his right front leg has gone so well at this early stage that he could eventually return to racing, trainer Ron Ellis said.

“He could come back,” Ellis said. “It all depends on what level.”