Trainer Andy Mathis says his 3-year-old filly Oh Molly Brannigan is running with so much confidence that he has to run her in Sunday’s $75,000 Golden Poppy at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Golden Gate Fields.

Three straight wire-to-wire victories since stretching out to routes will do that for a Thoroughbred.

The same holds true for a trainer.

“I’m a lot more confident than I was three months ago,” said Mathis, who hopes to notch his first stakes victory in the Golden Poppy, where his budding star will meet six rivals.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There were no scratches by scratch time Friday morning from the main body of the field for the 138th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs, so My Adonis, the lone also-eligible in the race, was officially scratched.

In addition, there are no scratches from the main body of the field for today's Kentucky Oaks, so also-eligible Oaks Lily is out of that race.

Advance wagering has opened ontrack at Churchill Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Trainers Roger Attfield, Claudia Rabstein, Justin Nixon, and Mike Doyle all have lodged appeals to the Ontario Racing Commission after being assessed 15-day suspensions and $1,000 fines for horses who tested positive for the Class 4 drug ketoprofen, an anti-inflammatory, last fall.

The racing commission's notices of appeal were made public late Thursday afternoon.

Nowurtalkin, a Quarter Horse who has won 7 of 9 starts in Mexico, makes his U.S. debut Saturday in the Grade 2, $50,000 Sam Houston Classic. The 440-yard race will be held on a special daytime program that begins at 1 p.m. Central. It highlights the card at Sam Houston.

Nowurtalkin will be seeking his fourth consecutive win Saturday. He last raced on Jan. 21, and won a stakes over 350 yards. His two starts before that were wins at 440 yards. He is a 4-year-old who races for Jose Luis Salazar. Nowurtalkin will be making his first start for the meet’s leading trainer, Judd Kearl.

Daddy Ben will attempt to stretch his speed around two turns for the first time Saturday in the featured fourth race at Lone Star Park. The first-level allowance at a mile is for 3- and 4-year-olds bred in Texas. The field of eight includes Triple Crown nominee Orient Dancer.

Regions Reward, who fired some competitive races this winter at Oaklawn Park, will be getting back to his winningest surface, the turf, for the featured ninth race Saturday at Louisiana Downs. The first-level allowance for 3-year-olds and up will be run at a mile. It drew 11, including the promising Beckyboy, who was third in the $60,000 Gentilly at Fair Grounds in his last start Feb. 25.

Ted’s Folly, who spent some time on this year’s Kentucky Derby trail after winning six consecutive races at 2, returns from a freshening Saturday in the $50,000 Oklahoma Stallion Stakes at Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa.

The race is one of two stakes on the card. Both are for 3-year-olds at a mile, and both are restricted to the offspring of eligible stallions. Ted’s Folly runs in the colts and geldings race, while the other division is restricted to fillies. It drew Wild Toy Lake, who won the six-furlong division of the Oklahoma Stallion Stakes at Remington Park in November.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. − Not that long ago, Patrick Byrne was the golden boy of racing.

In 1997, Byrne trained Favorite Trick, the undefeated Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner who became the first 2-year-old since Secretariat in 1972 to be voted Horse of the Year. The following year, Byrne guided Awesome Again to a 6-for-6 campaign, capped by a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Somehow, Awesome Again was eclipsed by Skip Away in voting for Horse of the Year.

Churchill Downs Cloudy Track Fast Temp 73

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The post positions were drawn and all 21 Derby entrants, including the also eligible My Adonis, were on the grounds by the time the racetrack opened for training on Thursday although Daddy Long Legs remained confined to the quarantine barn until Friday morning.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A week out from the 2012 Kentucky Derby a news release came from Team Valor International, the ownership group headed by Barry Irwin that won the 2011 Derby with Animal Kingdom. The story on Team Valor’s website included this sentence on Team Valor’s return to the Derby with the colt Went the Day Well:

“Incredulous reporters want to know if it is luck or skill, and how Irwin landed upon a New York-bred in England that had the tools to make it into the Kentucky Derby . . . .“

The sentence nailed Irwin’s public image: Self-important, self-promoting.