OZONE PARK, N.Y. – In a rematch of the Barbara Fritchie’s first three finishers, Funnys Approval will be out to prove her front-running upset in the mud over My Wandy’s Girl and Withgreatpleasure wasn’t a fluke in Saturday’s $250,000 Ruffian Stakes at Aqueduct.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The 2013 season has not gone the way trainer Richard Mandella expected with Jimmy Creed, the winner of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes here Dec. 26.

Mandella hoped to run Jimmy Creed in the Strub Stakes in February and maybe the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 2. A persistent wintertime cough ended that.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Maybe later, Clearly Now and Honorable Dillon will show prowess in route races. For now, though, both seem better suited to seven furlongs, which creates an intriguing matchup in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct.

Clearly Now, winner of the Grade 3 Swale on March 2 at Gulfstream, and Honorable Dillon, winner of the Grade 2 Hutcheson on Feb. 2 at Gulfstream, square off in the seven-furlong Bay Shore on the Wood Memorial undercard.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Birdlover is a threat from the front, and Wittgenstein can win from off the pace. Trainer Doug O’Neill has two formidable starters in Saturday’s $150,000 Providencia Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Santa Anita, but is not willing to choose which of the fillies he prefers in the Grade 3 Providencia over 1 1/8 miles on turf.

“I’m not going to touch that,” O’Neill said. “They’re both coming off wins.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unlike his younger stablemate Verrazano, Discreet Dancer was unable to successfully stretch out in distance after winning the first two starts of his career in one-turn races.

Undefeated in four starts around one turn, the now 4-year-old Discreet Dancer looks for his first Grade 1 victory in Saturday’s $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.

Revv Me Up won for the first time in her nine-race career in a time trial March 16 for Saturday’s $200,000 La Primera Del Ano Derby for fillies at Los Alamitos.

Previously, she was second six times, including a nose loss in the $125,000 Los Alamitos Maiden Stakes on Feb. 24, before the breakthrough win in the trials.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The twists and turns on the Kentucky Derby trail took another hairpin curve on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that Hear the Ghost, the San Felipe Stakes winner, would miss the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on Saturday because of an injury. He becomes the third horse, following Fountain of Youth runner-up Violence and Risen Star winner Ive Struck a Nerve, to be removed from consideration for the May 4 Kentucky Derby after winning a prep worth 50 points to the winner.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There are allowance races, and then there are Keeneland allowance races.

Few American racetracks, if any, consistently offer the kind of non-stakes race that Keeneland will serve up Saturday as an appetizer to the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. The fourth of 10 races, a $68,000 turf route, not only drew Turallure, an earner of more than $1.3 million, but also Forte Dei Marmi, Al Khali, and Air Support – all of them boasting big bankrolls and extensive graded-race experience.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The list of leading contenders for the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 3 is growing by the week.

Flashy wins by Midnight Lucky in the Sunland Park Oaks on March 24 and Dreaming of Julia in the Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 30 have expanded the list. On Saturday, reigning division champion Beholder can reaffirm her status at the top of the list in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks.

Trainer Richard Mandella said earlier this week that he has kept tabs on Beholder’s competition, respects them, but is confident in his filly.

The millionaire Maryland-bred Ben’s Cat launches his 7-year-old campaign in the first of two turf stakes on Saturday’s card at Pimlico. The stakes mark the return of grass racing in the state.