Fair Grounds Oaks candidate Dancinginthecircle began her 3-year-old season on a high note Friday night at Delta Downs, when she cruised to a nine-length win in the $100,000 By the Light Stakes. With the win Dancinginthecircle also flattered Pure Fun, the eventual Grade 1 winner she had finished second to in a Churchill Downs allowance on Nov. 24.

Mike Repole said he has always been a fan of Johannesburg Smile. Friday, he proved how big a fan when he put up $100,000 to claim the 6-year-old New York-bred out of the third race. Johannesburg Smile won the mile and 70-yard race by a half-length. The horse, previously trained by Dominic Galluscio, will be trained by Todd Pletcher.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Santa Anita has launched a program that pays a 20 percent bonus to ontrack pick six winners who are part of the track’s Thoroughbreds frequent customer program.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Friday was a day of bureaucracy for Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, 49, who rides for the first time in seven years on Sunday.

Friday morning, he was in the California Horse Racing Board offices to reapply for a jockey’s license. Later that day, he was booked for a required physical.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Regardless of how Notacatbutallama fared in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, trainer Todd Pletcher already has at least one runner pointed to next month’s Grade 3, $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

Revolutionary, an 8 1/2-length maiden winner here Dec. 28, will remain in New York for the winter and be pointed to the Withers on Feb. 2, Pletcher said.

Trainer Mark Casse said he is in the process of determining where his standout 3-year-old Uncaptured will make his first start of the year after having to scrap the initial plan of running the colt in the Feb. 2 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Uncaptured, one of as many as four hopefuls for the May 4 Kentucky Derby for Casse, won five stakes at 2, ending with the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs. An Ontario-bred owned by John Oxley, Uncaptured is currently stabled in Ocala, Fla.

Boosted by a sizeable increase in betting through account-wagering systems, the 2012 autumn meeting at Betfair Hollywood Park showed an increase in average daily handle of 13.8 percent, according to a statement released by the track on Thursday.

The statement revealed limited parimutuel and attendance data. The track said average handle from all sources was $9.15 million, compared to $8.04 million at the 2011 meeting. Data was compiled for the 24-day meeting that ended on Dec. 16, and from simulcasting revenue through Dec. 23.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Beholder, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November, zoomed five furlongs in 58.80 seconds at Santa Anita on Friday, leading trainer Richard Mandella to pronounce her ready for her 2013 debut later this month.

Beholder will start in the $150,000 Santa Ynez Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs for 3-year-old fillies on Jan. 21. A leading candidate for the title of champion 2-year-old filly of 2012, Beholder has not started since the BC Juvenile Fillies.

Mark Casse will send out the uncoupled duo of Exclusive Love and Eagle Hall in the allowance feature Sunday at Gulfstream Park, provided wet conditions don’t force the race to the main track. By the sound of it, Exclusive Love could take plenty of beating when breaking from post 1 in the 10th of 11 races at the south Florida track, a $60,500, third-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mizdirection will make fewer right-hand turns this year than in 2012, when she won three sprints on Santa Anita’s right-turn-left-turn hillside turf course, including a season-ending triumph in the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint.

The 2013 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita remains the autumn objective for Mizdirection, but her path to that goal may change this season. The Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes on Sunday could be the last sprint Mizdirection makes on her favorite course until fall.