GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – The Grade 3, $200,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park last Saturday was a defining race for Master Rick and a productive one for his stablemate, Prayer for Relief. The Steve Asmussen trainees finished a respective one-two, with Master Rick earning a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 105, and Prayer for Relief a 103 in his first start since September.

Though he says he considers Grade 3 San Francisco Mile winner Tigah “a Group 3 horse,” trainer John Sadler said he would consider the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Betfair Hollywood Park for the horse’s next start, although he added, “We might also look around.”

Tigah scored his first stakes victory Saturday in the San Francisco Mile, running down game pacesetter Summer Hit. Tigah was considered for the San Francisco Mile last year, but his knees were bothering him and he ultimately had a chip removed from one.

Though he is stabled well off the beaten path from wh ere the majority of Kentucky Derby horses are housed this week at Churchill Downs, trainer Rudy Rodriguez can’t hide.

Literally, his every move – or at least those of his first Derby starter, Vyjack – is being watched. While round-the-clock security will be provided for all Derby horses beginning Wednesday, Vyjack has been subject to 24-hour surveillance since his arrival April 20, with four cameras installed in the gelding’s stall in barn 4.

Nifty Shindig and Golden Galaxy, who won their first starts after being claimed to help fuel David Jacobson’s run to the Aqueduct spring meet training title, appear the ones to catch in Thursday’s pair of six-furlong allowance sprints at Belmont Park.

Dallas Stewart doesn’t much care about all the dominoes that had to fall for Golden Soul to finally make it into the Kentucky Derby field. All along, Stewart has trained the colt as if a Derby run was next on the agenda, and now that that’s happening, it’s up to Golden Soul to prove he belongs.

“He’s a nice, nice colt,” said Stewart, the former longtime assistant to D. Wayne Lukas who went on his own in 1997. “He finished up well against some good ones down at Fair Grounds. Plus I believe he’s improving and loves this racetrack.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One year ago this week, Turallure was arguably the most respected turf horse in North America. As such, he was the 7-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the 2012 Kentucky Derby undercard.

Since the gates were sprung for that race, however, little has gone right for Turallure. He gave a subpar effort in that race and then another, after which trainer Charlie LoPresti gave the gray horse more than nine months between races because of bone bruising detected by nuclear scintigraphy.

In the run-up to the Kentucky Derby, Goldencents, the Santa Anita Derby winner, has been referred to in most media circles as Rick Pitino’s horse, but saying that is like saying the Brooklyn Nets were Jay-Z’s team.

Pitino owns 5 percent of the Derby runner, while three other men own 95 percent, and it was one of them, Dave Kenney, whose graciousness allowed Pitino into the partnership long after Goldencents was purchased at auction a little more than a year ago.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The phone calls would come often from the school Kevin Krigger attended, with the same message for his father, Albert.

“Mr. Krigger, your son and daughter are out on the road with the horses,” he was told. “They’re supposed to be in school.

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Albert Krigger would come home and remind his son about the importance of going to school.

“But, tomorrow, same thing,” he remembered.

STICKNEY, Ill. – Struggling to attract sufficient entries almost from the outset of a meet that began Feb. 15, Hawthorne Race Course concluded its winter-spring season Sunday with total average daily handle falling 22 percent compared to the winter-spring 2012 meeting.

Even with a modest rally during the meet’s final two racing weeks, average daily all-sources handle during the 40-day season was just $1,748,804, a drop of more than one-fifth compared to the $2,246,582 Hawthorne averaged during a 41-day 2012 meeting.

Falling Sky displayed a bit of eagerness during his Tuesday morning training session, galloping at a brisk clip under exercise rider Cassie Garcea. Trainer John Terranova would have been surprised if he hadn’t.

“He’s into it. He likes to move along but he’s comfortable doing it. That’s him,” Terranova said. “He covers the ground fantastic. He’s really a nice horse, I just don’t know about the distance. He’s going to give his all for us.”