How they leave the starting gate in Saturday’s feature race at Northlands Park will go a long way in determining the outcome of the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares. Claresmiezie and Plethora have excellent speed, and if they hook up early in the $35,000 optional claimer it could set up nicely for Tempered Sapphire. If one gets away on her own, she could be tough to run down.

MIAMI – Trainer David Fawkes used Calder’s Ponche Handicap and Grade 2 Smile Sprint to launch Big Drama’s championship campaign in 2010. Three years later, Fawkes is considering taking a similar path with his current sprint sensation Bahamian Squall, a 4-year-old homebred owned by Donald Dizney.

BALTIMORE - There were no surprises at entry time at Pimlico on Wednesday, when nine were entered in Saturday's 138th Preakness Stakes, in which Kentucky Derby winner Orb will try to keep his Triple Crown hopes alive.

In addition to Orb, others in the Preakness are Departing, Goldencents, Govenor Charlie, Itsmyluckyday, Mylute, Oxbow, Titletown Five, and Will Take Charge.

The draw for the 1 3/16-mile race is scheduled for 6 p.m., and will be shown live on HRTV.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs is billing it as “the city’s best happy hour,” which may or may not be false advertising. Still, no other venue in town offers three allowances among 11 races on any given Friday after 4 p.m., a fact that gives this track a big edge with Louisville’s sizable horseplayer population, if not the public at large.

After spending the last 25 years as a jockey agent, Ron Ebanks said Joel Rosario was going to be his last client.

“Whether it was him or I who walked away, he was going to be my last rider,” Ebanks said.

The split came abruptly last August at Saratoga, about six weeks after Ebanks brought Rosario to the East Coast from Southern California. While Rosario basks in the glow of victories in this year’s Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup, Ebanks is no longer in racing, having started two new business ventures.

Joel Rosario had returned to the jockeys’ room at Pimlico after riding one of the undercard races on Preakness Day last May and noticed he had several missed calls from his brother Danny.

Without listening to any of the messages, Joel called his older brother, who picked up the phone, crying.

Danny Rosario stopped crying long enough to tell Joel that their older brother Marino had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Marino, a police officer in the Dominican Republic and one of 12 of Rosario’s siblings, had been struck by a truck on his way to work.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Hollywood Park has a first post time of 11 a.m. on Saturday to accommodate the simulcast of the Preakness Stakes.

The top live race is the $150,000 Marjorie Everett Handicap for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles.

Book Review, winner of the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies in December, and Lady of Fifty, who won the Grade 2 Bayakoa Handicap here in December, are among the 11 nominees. Book Review and Lady of Fifty were second and third in the Grade 2 Santa Maria Stakes at Santa Anita in February.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Dhaamer, who defended his title in Sunday’s minor Round Table Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, will have a very familiar schedule this summer.

Trainer Mike Mitchell is aiming the 6-year-old gelding to the same two races in which he started in 2012 – the Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park in July and the Del Mar Handicap in late August.

Dhaamer won the Sunset Handicap in 2012, but was second in the Del Mar Handicap, which turned out to be his final start last year.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Ron Moquett was the first American trainer to “discover” Ricardo Santana Jr. That was at Delaware Park, where Santana initially worked as an underage groom and exercise rider for Moquett after coming to the United States from his native Panama.

Hollywood Park: Gomez appreciates Bejarano feat

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Rafael Bejarano, the leading rider at Hollywood Park, won the 3,000th race of his career last Saturday, and the milestone was familiar to veteran jockey Garrett Gomez.

Gomez, 41, won the 3,000th race of his career at Santa Anita in October 2008. Through Tuesday, Gomez had 3,741 career wins and said it was easy to appreciate the accomplishments of the 30-year-old Bejarano.

“I think when you get to 3,000 it means more,” he said. “You’ve been at it longer. Things have to go right.”