HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Oxbow will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn on April 13, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday. The horse had been possible for the race after finishing second in the Rebel.

Joyful Victory, who earned her first Grade 1 win in the Santa Margarita Stakes last Saturday, will get a brief freshening over the next few months, but trainer Larry Jones already is plotting his return to Santa Anita for the fall meet, not only for the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic but for other races too.

With the defection of Titletown Five, there are now nine horses considered probable for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on Sunday. Sunland Park officials said Shakin It Up, winner of the Grade 2 San Vicente, and Govenor Charlie, an impressive maiden special weight winner at Santa Anita, are both expected for trainer Bob Baffert.

ARCADIA, Calif. – With a perfect record on turf, including a world record for 1 1/2 miles in the San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita last Saturday, Bright Thought already has accomplished a lot in California. Now, he’s going to take his act on the road.

Jorge Gutierrez, trainer of Bright Thought, said the Grade 1, $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day, May 4, is the likely next spot for Bright Thought, who won his third straight grass race in the San Luis Rey.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After getting an opportunity to test his lungs last month in stretching out to 12 furlongs for the first time, Twigazuri Strait will turn back to a mile on turf for Thursday’s $58,850 entry-level allowance feature at Gulfstream Park.

Twigazuri Strait, a son of the top turf sire English Channel and trained by Michelle Nihei, prompted the pace going 1 1/2 miles but could not kick on late in his three-turn debut, finishing sixth, although beaten less than three lengths by the long-winded veteran Livingston Street.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Southern California bettors are having a hard time picking winners of first-level allowance routes, specifically older horses on the main track.

Favorites are 0 for 3 at Santa Anita and 0 for 7 in Southern California the past six months in N1X routes for older horses at standard distances. The only winning favorite in that span was at Betfair Hollywood Park on Nov.  30, when the odds-on Dreamcatcher won at 1 1/4 miles.

Chad Brown long ago circled the Palm Beach Stakes as the starting point for Balance the Books this year. But when the colt came down with a temperature a couple of weeks before that March 3 grass race at Gulfstream Park, “we had to go to Plan B,” Brown said this week from his winter headquarters at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida.

A six-furlong allowance race last Friday featuring four stakes winners may end up being the Golden Gate Fields race of the meet.

Bailouttheminster won the race by a head after being passed by Gallant Son, who was coming off a victory in the Albany Stakes, in the lane. It was a gutty, gritty performance.

The race wasn’t a good betting race. Bailouttheminister and Gallant Son are proven sprinters. Comebackers Hudson Landing and Control Seeker are routers preparing for the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile on April 27.

Al Stall Jr. has a lot going on these days at Fair Grounds. Less than two weeks away from shipping many of his better horses to Kentucky while leaving others behind to compete at Louisiana Downs, the married father of two still has work to do and decisions to make in New Orleans while he agonizes over the two positive medication tests he has under appeal to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Titletown Five is being rerouted to the Grade  2, $1 million Louisiana Derby on March 30 because the timing of the race will allow him to have another workout and also because the Louisiana Derby awards the winner 100 qualifing points for the Kentucky Derby, trainer D.  Wayne Lukas said on Tuesday. The horse had been pointed for Sunday’s Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park, which gives 50 points to the winner.