ELMONT, N.Y. – Mark Valeski, winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont, arrived back at Churchill Downs early Monday morning and will train there while his connections decide whether or not to return for the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 9.

Trainer Larry Jones said while he was happy with his colt’s 1 1/4-length victory over Right to Vote in the Peter Pan – which earned him a 96 Beyer Speed Figure – he would monitor this Saturday’s Preakness Stakes as well as other developments before sitting down with owner Brereton Jones and deciding what’s next.

With entry day fast approaching Wednesday for the 137th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico, the prospective field came into sharper focus Monday, with Hansen, Hierro, and the longshot Brimstone Island bowing out, leaving a likely field of 11 or 12 for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wednesday’s $85,000 Cannon Shell could pass for a graded stakes. The eight older sprinters entered for turf have all run in such races; so have three of the five entered for dirt only.

Layoffs abound, if the six-furlong race stays on the inner turf as scheduled. Shintoh, Group 3 placed in Ireland, would be making his U.S. debut off a 19-month layoff for trainer Allen Jerkens.

Fiddlers Patriot and Yield Bogey haven’t run in seven months since chasing Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Regally Ready in the Nearctic, but both have run well fresh.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Strait of Dover stamped himself a serious Queen’s Plate candidate here last Saturday with a 6 1/2-length victory in the $156,300 Marine Stakes.

Racing around two turns for the first time and making his stakes debut in the 1 1/16-mile Marine, Strait of Dover pressed the pace of the front-running Incredicat and drew off through the stretch under a hand ride by Justin Stein.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Everyday Dave has a class edge in Wednesday’s Woodbine headliner, but the six-furlong allowance for Ontario-sired stock could set up for a sharp Haverhill.

The feature will be run as the seventh race and will anchor the pick four, which has a guaranteed pool of $100,000.

Hierro, the winner of the Derby Trial in his last start on April 28, will bypass the Preakness Stakes on Saturday and his connections will "consider other options," according to a press release from Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables, which owns the colt.

According to Stonestreet, Banke made the decision after she spoke with trainer Steve Asmussen Monday morning following Hierro's five-furlong work at Churchill Downs in 1:01.20.

The preliminaries are over and racing becomes a bit more serious when the first mid-week card of the Northlands Park meet starts at 6 p.m. Mountain on Wednesday. The first four days of the meet were filled with 3 1/2-furlong races and most were decided by which horses left the starting gate the quickest. Wednesday, seven of the eight races have been carded at six furlongs and the added distance certainly brings a lot more horses into the equation.

Parx Racing has added a second million-dollar race to its stakes lineup for 2012.

The recently finalized stakes package, 26 stakes worth $5.3 million, includes a $250,000 bump to the Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies. Now a Grade 1 race for the first time, the $1 million Cotillion will be part of a blockbuster four-stakes package on Sept. 22 that also includes the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby, the $300,000 Gallant Bob for 3-year-old sprinters, and the $75,000 Alphabet Soup at 1 1/16 miles on turf for Pennsylvania-breds.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Count Bodemeister in Saturday’s Preakness, and Isn’t He Clever and Hansen out.

The latter two horses were with removed from Preakness consideration Monday morning, their trainers said, while others continued their training for the race with breezes and gallops over a rain-soaked Churchill Downs strip Monday morning.

BALTIMORE – A Grade 1 stakes for Arabian horses is being staged early on the Preakness card Saturday at Pimlico Race Course. It will be offered as a special wagering event between the third and fourth races and will not be part of any multi-race wagers.