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.

ARCADIA, Calif. – This truly is a spring of personal and professional revival for California trainer Mike Mitchell.

Three of his stakes winners from 2012 – turf marathoner Dhaamer, turf miler Obviously, and sprinter Camp Victory – are nearing their first starts of the year. Dhaamer will have his 2013 debut in Saturday’s $100,000 Tokyo City Cup at Santa Anita.

Mitchell has been at Santa Anita on a regular basis in recent weeks to oversee their preparation. That would not have been possible last fall.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Just when you’d think trainer Todd Pletcher had exhausted his supply of stakes-caliber horses to bring off the bench before the 2012-13 Gulfstream Park meet runs its course early next month, here come two more, Peace Preserver and Dancing Solo, to take on eight other older fillies and mares in Friday’s $65,350 feature.

The main event will be decided at a mile on turf under high-level optional-claiming conditions.

Led by trainer Bob Baffert's duo of Shakin It Up and Govenor Charlie, as well as local hero Dry Summer, a field of nine was entered on Wednesday for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park on Sunday.

The field, from the rail out, is Just Win Baby (Alonzo Quinonez the rider), Abraham (John Velazquez), Stormdriver (Ry Eikleberry), Shakin It Up (David Flores), Saint Prado (Rafael Bejarano), Dry Summer (Carlos Madeira), Govenor Charlie (Martin Garcia), Mudflats (Edwin Maldonado), and Show Some Magic (Luis Contreras).

The 5-year-old mare Withgreatpleasure, dropping sharply in class after facing Grade 2 stakes company in her last two starts, powered her way to a 2 1/2-length victory in Tuesday night’s $35,000 St. Patrick’s Day Handicap for fillies and mares at Charles Town.

CINCINNATI - A full field of 12 3-year-olds was drawn today at the new Horseshoe Casino in downtown Cincinnati for the annual showcase event set for Saturday at nearby Turfway Park, with Uncaptured being listed as a lukewarm 3-1 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Polytrack race.

ARCADIA, Calif. – John Sadler and Jerry Hollendorfer are in hot pursuit of Bob Baffert in the trainers’s race at Santa Anita, and both Sadler and Hollendorfer will try to gain ground in Friday’s featured second race, where Hollendorfer’s horse Blueskiesnrainbows and the Sadler-trained Phantom Lover will meet for the second time this season.