INGLEWOOD, Calif. – The connections of Obviously expect a subtle equipment change to make a difference Sunday at Betfair Hollywood Park, where he renews a rivalry with Rauschenberg, whose improved form coincided with a not-so-subtle change in gender.

The geldings Obviously and Rauschenberg meet in the $68,000 Robert Kerlan Memorial Handicap, a six-furlong turf stakes that attracted a solid field including 2011 Kerlan winner Gallant Son, good miler John Johny Jak, and razor-sharp Comma to the Top.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – When Called to Serve makes his stakes debut in Wednesday’s $150,000 Swaps Stakes at Betfair Hollywood Park, he will fulfill an expectation that owner Marc Ferrell has had for nearly two years.

Ferrell, 42, paid $290,000 for Called to Serve at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale, which he admits was a big ticket for his racing operation.

“I generally wouldn’t spend that much for a yearling, but he had everything you had to have,” Ferrell said. “He was the whole package.”

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Cry Cry Cry looks primed for a big effort in her second start at the meet and could be the one in a $25,000 claiming race for fillies and mares that will serve as Sunday’s feature at Hastings. The 6 1/2-furlong sprint drew eight horses and appears to be a highly competitive event.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Patrick Biancone says the filly Quaintly is “50-50” to run in the Grade 1, $500,000 United Nations Stakes.

Dan Dufford, Monmouth Park’s stakes coordinator, is banking on the odds being higher than that.

Dufford is in the process of rounding up runners for meet’s premier turf race on July 7. So far, it has been a slow process for the 1 3/8-mile stakes.

Dufford is counting on Quaintly and Eldaafer, winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Marathon, to make the U.N. He lists Slim Shadey as a possible entrant.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – When Workin for Hops concluded his 2011 season and went for a winter rest, he departed the barn of trainer Mike Stidham, who had trained him since he made the races as a 2-year-old in 2009. But when Workin for Hops returned for his 2012 campaign, his owner, Estrorace LLC, had transferred the 5-year-old to trainer Graham Motion.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hunters Bay stamped himself as the leading older router at Woodbine when he trounced a quality field in the Grade 3 Eclipse Stakes. He will lengthen out to a mile and a quarter Sunday at Woodbine in the $200,000 Dominion Day Stakes, a Grade 3 stakes which will have just five starters after the scratch of Newsdad.

Hunters Bay showed lots of ability early last year before going to the sidelines. He was second to Pants On Fire when he came off the shelf in a March 3 optional claimer at Gulfstream.

MIAMI – According to the racing office at Calder, it seems getting horses to south Florida over the next week may be the obstacle that keeps field sizes to a relative minimum for Saturday’s rich Summit of Speed program.

One trainer who took it upon himself to make sure he got his horse to Calder, and got her there in plenty of time, is Steve Margolis, whose Bouquet Booth arrived here Thursday for the Grade 1 Princess Rooney. The start will be the first against Grade 1 competition for Bouquet Booth since she finished fifth 14 months ago in the Kentucky Oaks.

Indiana Downs will push back first post to 7:25 p.m. Eastern on Friday evening in an effort to “beat the heat,” racing secretary Scott Speine said. First post had been scheduled for 6:55 p.m.

“It is just too hot earlier in the day,” Speine said. “We feel that waiting until later will benefit the horses and the horseman.”

Tempatures in the Midwest were expected to top 100 degrees Friday afternoon.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Awesome Fire just missed in the June 3 Woodbine Oaks, coming up three-quarters of a length shy of the victorious Irish Mission as the third-place finisher in that 1 1/8-mile stakes.

On Sunday, Awesome Fire will be looking to improve on that result in the $250,000 Bison City, a 1 1/16-mile race that follows the Woodbine Oaks as the second leg of the triple tiara for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.

The Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gate Fields on May 28 was bittersweet for trainer Billy Morey.

The sweet part was that Positive Response finished first in the race. The bitter part came when Positive Response was disqualified from first to fourth for causing interference.

It’s the sweet part that has Morey looking forward to Sunday’s $50,000-added Alamedan Handicap at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton.

“We feel good that the horse actually won the race,” said Morey. “We wanted to see him win again.”