DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Jim Cassidy wasn’t at Ocala in March when a Malibu Moon colt now named J Serino was purchased for his client, Deron Pearson, for $485,000, but he likes what he’s seen so far. J Serino had impressed noted clocker Gary Young with his breeze at Ocala, and Cassidy was able to go right on with him over the past few months, a period of time in which a son of Malibu Moon won the Kentucky Derby. For those based in California, dreams for the 2014 Derby begin at Del Mar, and of the 2-year-old males expected to debut this summer, J Serino is among the notables to follow.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Midnight Lucky and Paynter, trainer Bob Baffert worked a number of his stable stars at Del Mar on Monday morning for potential starts both here and on the East Coast.

Midnight Lucky, winner of the Acorn Stakes at Belmont on May 27, went five furlongs on Polytrack in 59.40 seconds in preparation for the Grade 1, $300,000 Prioress Stakes at Saratoga on July 27.

“She went nice,” Baffert said of Midnight Lucky, who is by Midnight Lute. “She likes anything, like her sire.”

When you put up $470,000 in purse money for four Indiana-bred stakes races, they will come. Statebreds take center stage at Indiana Downs on Wednesday evening, and each of the four restricted stakes drew 12 horses along with several also-eligibles.

Harbor Cat will try to remain perfect this year in her third start of the season in the $150,000 Indiana First Lady for 3-year-old fillies.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – D. Wayne Lukas has been training for 57 years, and in all that time, the Hall of Fame horseman said he’s never owned a stopwatch or timed one of his horses’ workouts. So, it mattered little to him that there was no official clocking available for Oxbow’s half-mile work, which took place over the fog-shrouded Oklahoma training track shortly after 5:30 a.m. Monday.

DEL MAR, Calif. – It has been 45 weeks since Peter Miller captured the first training title of his life, here last summer at Del Mar, a moment he savored then, and one that has kept on giving. Miller has since established himself as a permanent fixture in the top 5 of the trainer’s standings at subsequent meets in Southern California, and heads into this year’s Del Mar season with some 70 horses in his care, a significant increase from a year ago.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The first race of the Del Mar season is like none other. The massive crowd cheers heartily from start to finish when the gate opens at the start of the year’s most anticipated race meeting, the din building to a crescendo when the runners reach the stretch.

Trainer Jeff Bonde lost millionaire sprinter Smiling Tiger to retirement last week but, to paraphrase an old Esso advertising campaign, he still has a tiger in the tank.

She’s a Tiger, a three-quarter sister to Smiling Tiger, was an impressive debut winner at Pleasanton and made it 2 for 2 Saturday with a wire-to-wire victory under Frank Alvarado in the $150,000 Landaluce for 2-year-old fillies at Betfair Hollywood Park.

EAST BOSTON, Mass. – Andria Terrill remained in Massachusetts Hospital on Monday afternoon, waiting for a consultation with her medical team after they reviewed the results from a new MRI administered Sunday night. Terrill was admitted to the hospital on July 8 after suffering three fractures at the base of her skull in a spill at Suffolk Downs and has undergone several CT scans, MRIs, and other diagnostic tests. It had been incorrrectly reported that she had been released on Saturday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sunday will be a day to remember for apprentice rider Skye Chernetz, who celebrated her first career stakes win after guiding On Rainbow Bridge to victory in the $150,800 Shady Well.

“It feels good to get the first one,” said Chernetz, who scored a second win on the card for owner Kurt Cobza and trainer Dave Cotey with Miss Giacomo in Sunday’s finale. “It was one of my goals for the year.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The 49-day spring-summer meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park ended Sunday with a slight gain in all-sources handle but a drop in ontrack attendance and handle, according to track president Jack Liebau.

The spring-summer meeting was the last of its kind. The track will run an autumn meeting in November and December and is scheduled to be closed and demolished in 2014 for development.