Less than six months ago, the South African import Mahubo was good enough to finish within 2 1/2 lengths of Data Link in the Grade 2 Monmouth Cup and missed third by only a neck. That race, like all but two of Mahubo’s 25 career starts, came on turf.

Mahubo’s only previous race on dirt came in February 2011 at Jebel Ali Racecourse in Dubai, where he finished 13th of 15 in a six-furlong sprint.

In the waning days of the 2012 season at Finger Lakes, Mahubo will get another chance to show he can handle dirt.

Chuck overtook 3-5 favorite Shirley Elizabeth late to win the first of two $55,000 divisions of the Oklahoma Stallion Stakes held Friday night at Remington Park. In the fillies division the favorite was also upset, when Rah Rah Rachel caught Black Ocean on the wire, to win at 25-1.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The dispute between Calder management and horsemen over the pending charges for stall rent this winter has now spilled across town to affect the 2012-13 Gulfstream Park meeting which opens Saturday.

MIAMI - Closing Range was allowed to set a relatively slow pace over a firm and dusty turf course, and then reaped the benefits of that strategy when he pulled away to a 2 3/4-length victory over Ciao Bella in the $100,000 La Prevoyante Handicap, the co-feature on Friday’s closing-day program at Calder. 

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though trainer Christophe Clement has sent the bulk of his stable to south Florida for the winter, he left a few horses behind to race at Aqueduct before racing on this circuit moves to the inner track on Dec. 12.

Arguably the best of that group is Miss Valentine, who figures a strong favorite in Sunday’s $75,000 Lottsa Talc Stakes for New York-bred fillies and mares at six furlongs. With only five runners, the Lottsa Talc goes as race 3 on the nine-race program.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Executiveprivilege will face a small field when she attempts to win the fifth stakes of her career in the $500,000 Hollywood Starlet Stakes over 1 1/16 miles at Betfair Hollywood Park next Saturday.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Executiveprivilege is expected to be a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding 2-year-old filly of 2012. She lost a chance to clinch the award when second to Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

Red Lead has come within a neck and a nose of winning the two most prestigious Thoroughbred races run at Zia Park. Sunday, he could finally break through at the Hobbs, N.M, track, when he starts as the probable favorite in the $200,000 Distance Championship.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If trainer David Fawkes is going to win Sunday’s $100,000 Sunshine State Stakes at Gulfstream Park with his top 3-year-old sprinter, Bahamian Squall, he’s likely going to have to beat an old friend to do so – former pupil Little Drama.

Fawkes trained Little Drama at 2 and 3 before owner Harold Queen transferred the homebred to Michael Mareina during the spring. While with Fawkes, Little Drama won a pair of stakes and also finished third in the Grade 2 Hutcheson and Swale at Gulfstream during the 2011 season.

Maryland’s horsemen and the operator of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course are in the final stages of negotiations over a long-term deal regarding live racing dates at the two tracks, according to an official involved in the talks.

Alan Foreman, general counsel of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said Friday that the two sides still needed to iron out some minor details in the agreement, but he expects a deal to be finalized next week.

“We’re very close,” Foreman said. “There’s a couple of small parts that remain outstanding.”

If the Sunday card is anything like the Thursday card was at Fair Grounds, you can put down your Daily Racing Forms and just follow the toteboard. Eight out of nine favorites were winners Thursday, and the only non-favorite to prevail was a 5-2 second choice, making for the kind of chalkfest rarely seen.