ARCADIA, Calif. - Mizdirection, the star female turf sprinter of 2012, was up to her old ways in Monday’s $150,750 Buena Vista Stakes at Santa Anita. She won a one-mile turf race in her first start at the distance since the summer of 2011.

Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, Mizdirection ($3.20) led throughout the Grade 2 Buena Vista Stakes, pulling away in the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths over In the Stars. Mizdirection ran a mile in 1:33.50 and won despite grabbing her left front quarter, most likely at the start.

Gallant Son scored his first victory on a synthetic surface as he ran down Shrug, held off Moonshine Bay and then survived a jockey’s objection in winning the $50,450 Albany Stakes at Golden Gate Fields on Monday.

Shrug grabbed the early lead in the six-furlong race while being challenged by Chapman’s Peak in the six-furlong race. Gallant Son was seventh down the backstretch and began his move while on the turn. As he took off, favored Bailouttheminister steadied sharply near the three-eighths pole, prompting the objection by Bailouttheminister’s rider, Russell Baze.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Super Ninety Nine continued the grip his trainer, Bob Baffert, has had on the 3-year-old stakes program at Oaklawn on Monday, when he took quick command of  the Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest and went on to an 11 1/4-length victory over Fear the Kitten. It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to Heaven's Runway in third.

Javerre held off favored Brigand after surging past front-running Il Vilano to pull a 6-1 upset Monday in the 37th running of the Grade 3, $250,000 General George Handicap at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md.

A postrace inquiry into an incident on the backstretch found Brigand, who finished second as the 6-5 favorite, guilty of interference, and he was placed last. The new order of finish behind Javerre was Il Vilano, Broad Rule, and Fiddlers Afleet.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A surprisingly large field of 11 3-year-olds passed the entry box Monday for Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth, although just how many will actually make it into the starting gate remains to be seen.

The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is one of three graded stakes on Saturday’s card along with the $250,000 Davona Dale for 3-year-old fillies and the $150,000 Canadian Turf.

The large field, which includes favored Violence and late entrant He’s Had Enough, even caught racing secretary Dan Bork a bit off guard.

NEW ORLEANS – Short fields lacking depth have been an all-too-regular part Fair Grounds racing this winter. And it’s not just day-to-day Fair Grounds fare. Even the glamour 3-year-old graded-stakes division has felt the pinch at tracks across the country. The Feb. 2 Robert Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita, for instance, went with a field of four.

Put it this way: It would take almost four Lewises to equal the field entered Monday for Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds.

After giving his many backers some anxious moments, Saginaw kicked into overdrive in deep stretch to run down Readytodefer in Monday’s 35th running of the Hollie Hughes Stakes for New York-breds.

Readytodefer, coming off a pair of front-running allowance wins, sped right to the lead on the rail in his stakes debut, and got away with a modest opening quarter-mile in 23.12 seconds as Saginaw gave chase outside.

Betfair Hollywood Park will conduct racing on Friday afternoons for the upcoming spring-summer meeting, track president Jack Liebau said on Monday. The decision ends more than two decades of racing on Friday evenings during the spring-summer meet.

The track’s application for a spring-summer meeting from April 24 to July 14 will be heard by the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday. The application states that Hollywood Park will run afternoon programs throughout the season. Racing will be conducted largely on a Thursday-through Sunday basis.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – It’s the goal of every trainer to improve the quality of his runners, but with better quality horses comes tougher competition and it becomes harder and harder to maintain a high level of success.

That’s why Jorge Navarro’s accomplishments lately are noteworthy. Navarro, who began training in 2008, has shown an improving win percentage each season he’s raced and has managed to do this while steadily improving the quality of his stock.

Rylees Boy, the winner of the 2012 Champion of Champions, became the first horse to earn a berth in the 2013 running of that race with a late-charging win in Sunday's $171,300 Los Alamitos Winter Championship at Los Alamitos.
Ridden by Ramon Sanchez, Rylees Boy closed from fourth in a field of nine to win by a half-length over stablemate Bills Last. Hez Our Secret was third in the field of nine. Last to Fire, the 2-1 favorite, finished fourth.

The Winter Championship winner received an automatic berth to the Champion of Champions.