ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A pair of maiden special weight events will bookend Friday’s nine-race Woodbine card. Trainers Reade Baker and Mark Casse both entered two first-time starters in the opener, a five-furlong dash for 2-year-olds.

Baker named Emma Wilson on the entry of Sharp Sensation and Holy Whirl Wind, who are owned by Jim and Susan Hill.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A drop in class, the likelihood of a fast pace, and the presence of Javier Castellano all combine to make Ode to Sami an attractive play in Friday’s featured $69,000 second-level allowance race at Aqueduct.

Ode to Sami, a 3-year-old daughter of Lion Heart, is coming off a third-place finish behind Morrow Cove and Wildcat’s Smile in the $75,000 Raging Fever Stakes here on Nov. 2. That race was six furlongs, this one is at one mile.

MIAMI – Christophe Clement has already won Calder’s Grade 3 La Prevoyante Handicap four times and appears to be in pretty good position to make it a full handful when he sends out Havant as the co-highweight in Friday’s Grade 3 La Prevoyante at Calder.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Like most athletes, jockey Ramon Dominguez doesn’t tend to dwell on his accomplishments as they are happening. Reflection usually comes during times of respite.

Unfortunately for Dominguez, he will have ample time to reflect on what has been another sensational season for the 36-year-old jockey as he will take off the next month due to a bruised left foot.

No, assistant starter Victor Ordonez wasn’t auditioning for Cirque du Soleil when he shot head first over the starting gate and somersaulted to the ground when a horse acted up in the gate Friday.

Ordonez, the husband of trainer Aggie Ordonez, miraculously escaped serious injury, although his wife said, “He was walking around like an old man the first day.”

Ordonez had gotten longshot Ramonsky in the gate when the 5-year-old mare became unruly. Ordonez helped apprentice jockey Juan Sanchez escape to safety and thought he had the mare held down.

The Kentucky Derby trail makes a stop in New Orleans for the $1 million Louisiana Derby, but other than that, Fair Grounds-based early season 3-year-olds have not for the most part been major players in recent Triple Crown seasons. The 3-year-old filly division, however, has been a hotbed for Kentucky Oaks hopefuls and is shaping up as a major proving ground again this winter.

STICKNEY, Ill. – A horse that had gone down in its stall had to be euthanized Monday morning at Hawthorne Race Course, raising concerns that the equine herpesvirus that has been circulating at the Chicago-area track since Oct. 14 remains active in the equine population.

The name Hernandez still is flitting about the minds of racing-oriented folks, what with Brian Hernandez Jr. winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic aboard Fort Larned. Another member of the Hernandez clan, Colby, is hoping to raise his own profile this winter.

Colby Hernandez, 24 and three years younger than brother Brian, has hung his tack at Fair Grounds this winter for the first time in his career. Hernandez has usually spent his winters on the other side of Louisiana, riding the meet at Delta Downs.

There are not many racing opportunities in non-claiming races for horses such as Make Music for Me, the 5-year-old horse who was fourth in the 2010 Kentucky Derby.

That’s why Make Music for Me will start in a tough running of the $250,000 Native Diver Stakes at Hollywood Park on Saturday in his first race since a win in mid-May.

“There is no other choice, unless I wait for Santa Anita,” trainer Alexis Barba said.

Unfortunately for Barba and her clients, Peter and Ellen Johnson, the competition is as tough in the Native Diver as any race in the older horse division.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Grandeur, second as the favorite in Sunday’s $250,000 Hollywood Derby, will remain in California for the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup at Betfair Hollywood Park on Dec. 15.

Trained by Jeremy Noseda of England, Grandeur will be based with trainer Paddy Gallagher in coming weeks. The Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup is run over 1 1/2 miles and would be Grandeur’s first start at that distance.

“That’s the race we’ll point for,” Gallagher said. “He ran well the other day. They’ve left him with me, and we’ll see how he is.”