Especially Tres was not the fastest qualifier for Saturday night’s $452,800 Sam Houston Futurity for Quarter Horses, but she was the most impressive trial winner. She dominated by 2 3/4 lengths and the effort could send her to post as the favorite for the 330-yard race that highlights the meet at Sam Houston Race Park.

As on opening night at Lone Star Park on Thursday, Texas-breds are showcased in stakes Saturday. And the race spotlight shines brightest on Cowgirl N Up.

A stakes winner at age 2, 3, and 4, Cowgirl N Up has developed into arguably the top female Texas-bred sprinter in training heading into the $50,000 JEH Stallion Stakes.

The trainer Ian Wilkes stood atop steps on the Gulfstream Park apron as the 10th race March 9 began. Trees obscured the starting gate, and when the horses in the Gulfstream Park Handicap came into view, Wilkes’s runner, Fort Larned, was nowhere to be seen.

“I can’t really tell you exactly what was going through my mind right then, but when I didn’t see him, I knew something had gone wrong,” Wilkes said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Mizdirection is the undisputed leader of the nation's female turf sprinters, a status proven with a win in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint against males here last November.

For 2013, the goals are oriented more toward mile races, notably the $500,000 Just a Game Stakes at Belmont Park on June 8. To get there, Mizdirection is starting in Saturday's $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita.

Trainer Walter Abner died Wednesday at St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital in Anderson, Ind., of a heart attack.

The 68-year-old Abner, a native of Anderson, began training horses in 1967. Abner began his training career with Quarter Horses and then later turned to Thoroughbreds, training at River Downs, Turfway Park, Churchill Downs, and Keeneland. In recent years he has been at Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs as well as Tampa Bay Downs. Abner was a member of the Indiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The scramble for Kentucky Derby eligibility points has brought an eclectic mix of 3-year-olds to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby on Saturday. The field of 10 includes horses who last raced at Aqueduct, Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Tampa Bay Downs, and Turfway Park.

Not having raced on a synthetic surface, Gantry might seem at a disadvantage in Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland on the Blue Grass Stakes undercard.

But if he is, so are most of his rivals. Of the five horses facing him – Candyman E, Bind, Big Blue Spirit, Bernie the Maestro, and Handsome Mike – only the latter two horses have raced on a synthetic surface, and Bernie the Maestro is the only winner on such a track.

So, if there has ever been a time for Gantry to try Polytrack, the seven-furlong Commonwealth seems the time.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With college basketball and horse racing being as wildly popular as they are here, folks may find delight – along with a touch of irony – in recognizing a tournament-style elimination being a part of the racing game Saturday at Keeneland.

This is the home of the 2012 NCAA champion University of Kentucky, where 3-year-old Thoroughbreds will try earning a berth three weeks hence in a certain race at a certain racetrack that borders the University of Louisville, Kentucky’s arch-rival and the newly crowned 2013 NCAA champion.

Had things gone to plan, champion female sprinter Groupie Doll would be running at a short price Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Madison at Keeneland. But Groupie Doll was sidelined this winter and spring after not training to trainer Buff Bradley’s satisfaction, and the race is now void of star power.

Trainer Ed Lehman has a good shot of sweeping both $75,000 stakes for Pennsylvania-breds on Saturday’s card at Parx Racing.

Lehman has the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the Lyman Handicap in Rod’s Five Star and the track linemaker’s 5-2 choice in the Foxy J.G. Stakes for fillies and mares in Great Lookinblonde. Both stakes will be contested at seven furlongs on the main track.