For a reigning Quarter Horse World Champion, and the winner of three major stakes this year, Cold Cash 123 still has something to prove when he starts as the favorite in Saturday’s $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.

Cold Cash 123 won the Go Man Go Handicap in his Los Alamitos debut in September, but was only third after a slow start in the Los Alamitos Championship on Oct. 28, his most recent start.

In the last seven weeks, trainer Denny Ekins has focused on the starting gate with Cold Cash 123.

Sam Houston Race Park will offer its ontrack patrons the opportunity to bet both live and simulcast races from their smartphones and tablets during the Thoroughbred meet that opens Jan. 18.

The track on Wednesday also announced it would offer a reduced 12 percent takeout on pick four wagers during the upcoming meet. The track will also add a carryover pool to its pick five wager in the event there are no winning 5-of-5 tickets. Sam Houston runs through March 17.

Will Rogers Downs in Claremore, Okla., will offer eight stakes worth a cumulative $420,000 during its Thoroughbred meet that opens March 4. Many of the races are positioned to run on Monday and Tuesday cards. Will Rogers will race through May 18.

The stakes action starts on Monday, March 4, with a 3-year-old fillies division of the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes. It will be run over a mile. There will be Monday and Tuesday stakes on April 8-9, when Will Rogers runs a pair of six-furlong races catering to 3-year-olds and up bred in Oklahoma. Each is worth $55,000.

Tiz the Argument ($4.60) was away last after a flat-footed start, but surged late under Junior Alvarado to nip Moon Philly in the final strides of Wednesday’s $80,000 Jameela overnight stakes at Aqueduct.

Check Point was up for third, as pacesetter Opus A faded to fourth in the field of six fillies and mares.

Tiz the Argument, now 2 for 2 on the inner dirt for Richard Dutrow Jr., ran one mile in 1:37.86 on a track upgraded from good to fast earlier in the day.

No one knew it at this time last year, but an unraced colt named Bourbon Courage might have been the best 2-year-old in New Orleans. But when Bourbon Courage arrived for his second winter at Fair Grounds this past Saturday, he came carrying a r é sum é that makes him a strong candidate to be the leading older horse on the grounds.

Slim Shadey has forced his way into Saturday’s $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park.

After an eighth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 3, trainer Simon Callaghan intended to give Slim Shadey a late autumn break and point to the winter-spring meeting at Santa Anita. The way that Slim Shadey has trained in recent weeks has led to a change in plans, provided expected rain Thursday does not leave the turf course too soggy.

Eblouissante, a 3-year-old half-sister to 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta, is entered for her first start against winners in Saturday’s fourth race at Betfair Hollywood Park, a first-level optional $40,000 claimer over 1 1/16 miles.

Trained by John Shirreffs for breeder Eric Kronfeld, Eblouissante will be heavily favored in a field of five that includes Glowing Spirit, Includethecat, The Only Key and Toomanytomatoes.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The way Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable has performed in the last week, the 2-year-old colt Fury Kapcori must be held in high regard for Saturday’s $750,000 CashCall Futurity at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Last Saturday and Sunday, Hollendorfer won six races at Golden Gate Fields and Hollywood Park, including three stakes. Two of the stakes were at Hollywood Park – Saturday’s Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes with the 3-year-old filly Lady of Fifty and Sunday’s Soviet Problem Stakes with the 2-year-old California-bred filly Doinhardtimeagain.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although Mucho Macho Man gets all the ink, there are other horses in trainer Kathy Ritvo’s barn who have had some success this season. One of those is Miss Suwanee, who beat males winning her maiden this summer at Saratoga and will be among the contenders in Friday’s $54,500 allowance feature at Gulfstream Park, carded at five furlongs on the turf.

Ea, the long-winded gelding who won two races totaling 25 furlongs in a week’s time at Saratoga, breaks from the rail as the 4-5 morning-line choice in Friday’s Aqueduct feature at 1 1/2 miles.

All seven entrants in the $69,000 three-turn race – situated as race 4, the opening leg of the pick six – are in for the optional claiming price of $35,000.