AUBURN, Wash. -- The first stakes race of the meeting for 3-year-old colts and geldings will be one of many challenges facing participants in the National Handicapping Championship qualifier Sunday at Emerald Downs. The 10 Emerald races are mandatory plays in the contest, with cash prizes and five trips to the final in Las Vegas up for grabs.

Quiet Oasis, the winner of the Grade 3 Wilshire Handicap in April and second in the Grade 1 Gamely Handicap on May 26, could make one more start at the current spring-summer meeting.

Trainer Ben Cecil said an appearance in the $150,000 Royal Heroine Stakes over a mile on turf on July 7 is a possibility, depending on how quickly the filly recovers from a grueling race in the Gamely.

“She came out really good, but a little tired,” he said. “We could possibly run in the Royal Heroine. We’ll see how she is.”

Acclamation, the champion older male of 2011, breezed a mile on turf in 1:41.20 on Friday, his final major exercise before an expected 2012 debut in the $250,000 Charles Whittingham Handicap next Saturday, June 9.

Acclamation worked a mile on turf for the second consecutive Friday with the stablemate Norvsky, but the circumstances of the two workouts were opposite.

On May 25, Acclamation had the lead and Norvsky was the trailing horse.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Yuichi Fukunaga, a top rider from Japan who won the Grade 1 American Oaks aboard Cesario at Betfair Hollywood Park in 2005, will ride in California for at least two months beginning in July, jockey’s agent Brian Beach said.

Beach said that the 35-year-old Fukunaga is in the process of finalizing work documents and hopes to begin riding at Hollywood Park around July 1. Fukunaga will ride through the Del Mar meeting, which runs from July 18 to Sept. 5.

Jockey Alfredo Contreras has been a mainstay at tracks in Texas and Louisiana the past five years. But the mounts he has on Sunday’s card at Lone Star Park will be his first this year in North America.

Contreras, a 27-year-old native of Mexico, had an opportunity to ride in Saudi Arabia through the fall and into the spring. He was under contract to Prince Sultan bin Mohammed bin Saud al Kabeer, and Contreras said he rode at the racetrack in Rwah, Saudi Arabia.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Presious Passion passed the first test. The next assignment will be much tougher.

A popular 9-year-old turf star, Presious Passion showed trainer Mary Hartmann enough in his comeback last month to warrant a shot in the Grade 2, $200,000 Monmouth Stakes on June 10, a race he captured in 2009.

Presious Passion finished seventh in the Elkwood Stakes, his first start since January 2011.

Mythical Power and Streakin’ Mohican, who were each claimed last out in Southern California, meet in Colorado on Sunday for the $40,000 Arapahoe Park Sprint. They are part of an 11-horse field for the six-furlong race that also includes horses who last raced at Woodbine, Turf Paradise, and Prairie Meadows.

The last two Grade 3 British Columbia Derby winners, Majesticality in 2010 and Northern Causeway last year, will be looking to get untracked when they run in the $50,000 Sir Winston Churchill on Sunday at Hastings.

Majesticality, a 40-1 shot when he won the derby in 2010, took the rest of the year off following his win and raced only five times in 2011. He is coming off a fourth-place finish in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance race May 12. His trainer, Barbara Heads, is looking for a more productive season with Majesticality this year.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It was not a good winter for Liaison, who began 2012 among the top Kentucky Derby candidates in California. His reputation slipped race by race.

Four losses and five months later, Liaison aims for a resurrection at Betfair Hollywood Park. It certainly is the right track. Liaison won the CashCall Futurity in December at Hollywood, and trainer Bob Baffert expects the old Liaison to reappear Sunday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Charlie Lopresti said he and owner Morton Fink are considering running Wise Dan and Successful Dan against each other when the Grade 1 Stephen Foster is renewed at Churchill Downs on June 16.

“Wise Dan will run for sure,” Lopresti said Friday. “We’re still on the fence with Successful Dan. Obviously the big question is whether we want to run the brothers against each other.”