HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The biggest question being asked before Sunday’s ninth race was, who is Oussama Aboughazale? That unfamiliar name was listed as the trainer of record for Diva Spirit, a well-bred daughter of A.P. Indy who returned from a six-month layoff to upset two other A.P. Indy offspring tutored by a couple of more familiar names, Bill Mott and Kiaran McLaughlin.

When trainer Lloyd Mason’s assistant, Faith Taylor, brought Nina’s Dragon to Mason’s barn at Golden Gate Fields last year after breaking him at her nearby ranch in Clayton, she made a bold prediction.

“When he went to the track, I told Lloyd, ‘Next year, we’ll be in Kentucky,’ and I never say that,” Taylor said.

Nina’s Dragon isn’t in Kentucky yet and isn’t even nominated to the Triple Crown races.

But he is in Louisiana, where he will run in the 100th edition of the $1 million Louisiana Derby on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Fort Erie Race Track, which had been expected to close its doors this season, has been rescued and will be receiving transitional funding from the Ontario government.

Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne announced early Tuesday afternoon that Fort Erie, as well as Standardbred racetracks Flamboro Downs and Georgian Downs, had signed transitional funding agreements with the province.

Details were not made public, but more information should be forthcoming when the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium holds a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Finger Lakes has named Bill Couch as its racing secretary. Couch will oversee the Finger Lakes racing office as well as the racino’s 1,200-stall backstretch area.

The Finger Lakes meet opens on April 20 and runs through Dec. 10.

Couch has been the racing secretary at Thistledown for 12 of the past 14 years. He was the Gulfstream Park racing secretary in 2007-08.

“I’m looking forward to working with our horsemen to showcase Finger Lakes racing in the strongest way possible,” Couch said.

Churchill Downs officials announced Tuesday that simulcasting at its nearby Trackside annex will not be available this year for the Kentucky Oaks and Derby, quite possibly spelling the end for a facility that has been used for that purpose off-and-on since the early 1990s.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After winning three races in as many starts this winter, it appeared that Stopshoppingmaria’s work was done for the Gulfstream Park portion of her campaign. Instead, the red-hot turf-sprint specialist will get one more chance to strut her stuff in southern Florida when she goes postward as the heavy favorite once again in Wednesday’s $70,200 allowance feature, carded at her favorite distance of five furlongs on the grass.

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – One visit to Payson Park and it’s easy to see why Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has used the training center located approximately 90 miles north of Gulfstream Park as his major base of operations in south Florida for the past 30 years.

Jockey Ramon Dominguez’s comeback is on hold.

Dominguez, who suffered a fractured skull in a spill at Aqueduct on Jan. 18, met with his doctors on Monday, but did not receive clearance to start getting on horses in the morning as he had hoped.

NEW ORLEANS – A little improvement.

That’s all trainers Dallas Stewart, Tom Amoss, and Steve Asmussen want to see from the 3-year-olds they’re running in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday.

Sure, Golden Soul, Mylute, and Proud Strike were also-rans in the Risen Star on Feb. 23, but only 3 1/2 lengths separated the first eight finishers.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite Mother Nature’s last-ditch effort to hold on to winter by producing another storm on Monday, spring does begin for New York horseplayers Wednesday with the opening of Aqueduct’s main track.

It will be one of those don’t-blink-or-you’ll-miss-it type of meets, with only 19 cards of racing before this circuit moves to Belmont Park on April 26. New York Racing Association officials are hoping to add turf racing to the mix here on April 3, though that is weather dependent.