Miss Valentine, a multiple listed stakes winner in open company as a 3-year-old, makes her 4-year-old debut against New York-bred fillies and mares in Saturday’s $75,000 Northern Willy Stakes at a mile.

Miss Valentine, trained by Christophe Clement, won the Serena’s Song at Monmouth and Mom’s Command at Belmont. Surprisingly, she finished second to Ava K. in a pair of New York-bred stakes.

Miss Valentine has not started since finishing fifth to Awesome Feather in the Grade 1 Gazelle last November at Aqueduct.

Herbert Schwartz, a longtime New York owner/breeder, died Thursday afternoon at his home in Woodmere, N.Y. of natural causes. He was 80.

Schwartz had been in the game since 1970 and bred two-time New York-bred champion filly Critical Eye. He also campaigned stakes winners Thunder Puddles, Critical Eye, Always Run Lucky, Brookhaven’s Money, Classic Endeavor, Dynamic Lisa, Go Rockin Robin, and Tom’s Thunder. Most of these horses were trained by his son Scott.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With the opening of the Belmont spring/summer meet a week away, there are some new as well as old faces showing up on the backstretch.

Joe Orseno qualifies as both. Orseno, a mainstay on the New York circuit for many years before leaving for New Jersey in the mid 2000s, has returned and will be stabled at Belmont with 30 horses. As of Thursday, Orseno had 13 on the grounds with more on the way.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Victor Espinoza returns to riding for the first time since March 23 with three mounts on Saturday’s 10-race program at Santa Anita.

Espinoza suffered a hairline fracture to a bone in his left hand when he was involved in a one-horse spill on the turf course. He had a cast placed on the arm in late March and received doctor’s clearance on Wednesday afternoon to resume riding.

“It’s back to normal,” he said on Wednesday. “It was a tough thing, but it is my hand. You need to have that strength.

“That was the wrong time to have it happen.”

STICKNEY, Ill. – With horses such as Havre de Grace, Awesome Maria, Awesome Feather, Royal Delta, Plum Pretty, and It’s Tricky sitting at atop the division, it’s no wonder the Sixty Sails Handicap on Saturday at Hawthorne came up with an appealing cast of entrants. The race is a Grade 3 with a solid $200,000 purse, a good spot for mares who would be hard-pressed to break into the upper echelon.

[bc_video_id:249454:]ARCADIA, Calif. – Once a speedball, Compari has mellowed with age.

The 6-year-old gelding now frequently races as a stalker, which makes him dangerous in a race such as Saturday’s $100,000 San Simeon Handicap at Santa Anita.

“He’s changed a lot,” trainer Marty Jones said. “Earlier in his career, he was a need-the-lead type. Now he runs from off the pace. It’s gratifying.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Vamo a Galupiar has already won two turf stakes this year, the Megahertz Stakes in January and the Grade 2 Santa Ana Stakes in March.

For Saturday’s $150,000 Santa Barbara Handicap for fillies and mares over 1 1/4 miles on turf at Santa Anita, Vamo a Galupiar will be a short-priced favorite. The Santa Barbara is a race that trainer Neil Drysdale said should lead to bigger things for the 5-year-old Chilean-bred mare later this year.

“I think she should improve this summer,” he said. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though the race came up tougher than he originally thought, trainer Richard Violette Jr. remains enthusiastic about running Term Loan in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct.

Violette was a little surprised to see the Bob Baffert-trained duo of Stirred Up and Brigand as well as The Lumber Guy in the Jerome.

“It’s gotten significantly more competitive than it was a week ago, but I love my horse,” Violette said. “He’s doing fabulous.”

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The metaphor is well-worn: the Coolmore Lexington Stakes serves as the final stop for the Kentucky Derby train steaming into Louisville.

Well, hardly anybody is in the depot this year. Only two marginal possibilities to advance to the May 5 Derby are in the field of 11 3-year-olds set to run Saturday in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington at Keeneland, and it would be no surprise if the race winds up carrying zero effect two weeks hence.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Strait of Dover, who made a good impression here last fall in two starts for trainer Danny Vella, will be beginning his 3-year-old campaign here Sunday with a long-term eye to the Queen’s Plate.

“I’m excited about him,” said Vella, who will send out Strait of Dover in a first-level allowance for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs. “I hope he’ll be a Plate horse.”