FLORENCE, Ky. – There were agonizing moments when Jeff Greenhill questioned why he ever gave up the security of being a government-employed chemical engineer to become a Thoroughbred horse trainer.

“One morning a few years ago, I was driving through the split in the hills near Carrollton,” said Greenhill, referring to the monotonous drive on Interstate 71 in Kentucky. “And I broke out in a sweat. I thought, ‘Where in the world is my next win coming from?’ All I had in the barn was manes and tails.”

The Spiral Stakes will be accompanied by two other stakes on Turfway Park's Saturday card – the Grade 3, $100,000 Bourbonette Oaks and the $75,000 Team Valor Rushaway Stakes.

Like the Spiral, the Bourbonette got a full field of 12, with Pure Fun making her 3-year-old debut as the 8-5 morning-line choice. Pure Fun, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet in her most recent start Dec. 8, will be ridden by Garrett Gomez when breaking from post 5.

Discreet Dancer, the authoritative winner of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap on March 9, will attempt to become a Grade 1 winner when he runs in the $400,000 Carter Handicap here April 6, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.

Discreet Dancer is one of three horses Pletcher is scheduled to run in stakes on the April 6 card here. Verrazano is slated for the $1 million Wood Memorial, while Princess of Sylmar will go in the $250,000 Gazelle.

Majestic River will get her first shot at stakes competition Sunday when she lines up against seven other 3-year-old fillies in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The 1 1/16-mile race supports the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby and is one of seven stakes on the card.

In all, the races are worth $1.4 million to make for the richest program of the meet at Sunland, the New Mexico track located just next door to El Paso, Texas.

CINCINNATI – What amounts to a berth in the May 4 Kentucky Derby will be up for grabs Saturday when a wide-open field of 3-year-olds goes off at Turfway Park in the 42nd running of the Grade 3, $550,000 Spiral Stakes.

The Spiral is worth 50 points to the winner (85 in all) on the new eligibility system in place for the Derby, making it all but certain the winner will make the cut in case the 20-horse maximum is exceeded.

Quinzieme Monarque, fourth to Rydilluc in the Grade 3 Palm Beach Stakes at Gulfstream on March 3, will switch to dirt for the Grade 1 Wood Memorial on April 6, trainer Tom Albertrani said.

Quinzieme Monarque, a son of Rock Hard Ten, is winless in two dirt tries, finishing fourth in an off-the-turf maiden race last summer at Saratoga and fourth, beaten 17 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 2 Remsen here last November.

“He may prefer the turf, but we’ll take a shot and see what happens,” Albertrani said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Carl Nafzger has already won two Kentucky Derbies, with Unbridled and Street Sense, but at the moment he’s in no hurry to try for a third with his latest 3-year-old prospect Looking Cool.

Looking Cool qualified for a possible shot at a Derby prep after rallying to defeat the odds-on River Rocks by a half-length under entry-level allowance conditions going 1 1/16 miles here at Gulfstream Park last Sunday. The win was the second in the last three starts for Looking Cool, who earned a career-best 86 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort.

Carve is to make his next start at Oaklawn Park on April 13, in one of two stakes, trainer Steve Asmussen said Tuesday. He said the horse is to run in either the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby or the $100,000 Northern Spur.

Carve won the first two starts of his career at Oaklawn, then ran sixth in the track’s Grade 2, $600,000 Rebel last Saturday. He trailed for much of the race before putting in a strong stretch bid.

“He left himself too much to do,” Asmussen said. “He made up quite a bit of ground.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Trainer Kelly Breen hopes the allowance win recorded by Ruler On Ice in January was the start of big things to come this year for the 2011 Belmont Stakes winner.

He’ll find out more Saturday when Ruler On Ice runs against six rivals in the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Aqueduct. The Excelsior will go as race 9 on a 10-race card beginning at 12:50  p.m. Eastern.

Amazing Saint and Little Ms Protocol bring exceptional records over the Delta Downs surface into Friday night’s $70,000 Gold Coast Stakes. Amazing Saint has never been beaten on the Vinton, La., oval in eight local starts, while Little Ms Protocol is 5 for 6.