OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As trainer Bob Baffert was preparing to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with his in-laws in Tennessee, one of his Grade 1-winning horses was getting ready to hit the road to New York for Saturday’s Grade 1, $350,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct.

Coil, winner of the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship last month, will try to rebound from his seventh-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint when he runs in what is expected to be a seven-horse field for Saturday’s Cigar Mile, the last Grade 1 race in 2012 on this circuit.

NEW ORLEANS – There’s no such thing as status quo at the Fair Grounds race meet. During the last 20 years, the cozy New Orleans track always seems to be perceived as falling down or rising up, and the 84-day 2012-2013 racing season begins Thursday in more of a sky-is-falling than sky’s-the-limit moment.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The difficult task of finding six straight winners Thursday at Betfair Hollywood Park could give a horseplayer a headache.

It would be nothing compared to the headache Church Avenue suffered this summer.

The largest pick six carryover of the Hollywood fall meet – $560,134 – is up for grabs Thursday, and Church Avenue is a potential single in her first start since recovering from a likely concussion sustained when she banged her head on the Del Mar starting gate three months ago.

Ms. Cruisen' stalked the early pacesetter Bounding Bi to the turn and then rallied to a 2 1/4-length victory in the $75,000 Cornucopia at Parx Racing Tuesday afternoon.

Trained by Mike Aro, Ms. Cruisen' made quick work of the short field of four older fillies and mares in the six-furlong event. Under jockey Jose Caraballo, she drew even with and then put away Bounding Bi on the turn and shook off a challenge by second-place finisher Withgreatpleasure in midstretch. Puddy De Luca was third.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With one late-blooming 3-year-old out of the Clark Handicap, one of his familiar rivals will be looking to carry on.

Neck ’n Neck, winner of the Indiana Derby and Ack Ack Handicap in his last two starts, was declared Tuesday morning from the Grade 1 Clark after suffering a sesamoid injury to his left front ankle, apparently in a Sunday workout at Churchill Downs, said trainer Ian Wilkes. Surgical repairs on the Flower Alley colt were scheduled for Wednesday at the Woodford Equine Hospital in Versailles, Ky.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Bob Baffert has won the Grade 3 Hollywood Prevue a record five times. That number is likely to increase Thursday at Betfair Hollywood Park.

Baffert entered four of the five runners in the seven-furlong stakes for 2-year-olds, race 1 on a Thanksgiving Day program that starts at 11 a.m. Pacific.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While yet another quick turnaround for the Grade 1-winning 3-year-old Willy Beamin will be a hot topic leading up to Thursday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. believes his other horse, This Ones for Phil, will dominate the post-race discussion.

“I expect him to win the race,” Dutrow, channeling his inner Joe Namath and Mark Messier, said of This Ones for Phil.

NEW ORLEANS – Tom Amoss long has been closely linked to Fair Grounds. Amoss grew up in New Orleans, first went to the races at Fair Grounds, and used to be the perennial leading trainer here. Even realizing all that, the scope of his success at this track still startles. A total of 907 Fair Grounds wins. Sixty-six wins in Fair Grounds stakes.

“I’ve won a lot of races here,” Amoss said Tuesday morning. “But I’ve never won the Thanksgiving Handicap.”

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The life of a traveling jockey is behind Julien Leparoux.

At the ripe old age of 29, he is settling down.

Last month, Leparoux, well known as the champion apprentice jockey of 2006, relocated to Southern California where he plans to ride on a year-round basis. The sport was not the only attraction.

On Dec. 10, Leparoux is marrying Shea Mitchell, the daughter of trainer Mike Mitchell. The couple has been dating for a year, and Shea’s home is in Southern California. She works as an entertainer at Disneyland, performing in stage shows.

The last time Gladding was in Northern California, he dominated the field in the $51,000 Alamedan Handicap on July 1 at Pleasanton, winning by 6 1/2 lengths while recording a career-best 103 Beyer.

Gladding returns to Northern California on Friday, and he’s the morning-line 7-5 favorite in the Grade 3 All American at Golden Gate Fields.

Trainer John Sadler doesn’t dispute the early vote of confidence, even though Gladding came down sick over the summer.