Agave Kiss retained her unbeaten record with a front-running victory in the $75,000 Trevose Stakes on Tuesday at Parx Racing near Philadelphia.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Hope springs eternal in Thursday’s third race, a $60,000 maiden dash that is New York’s first baby race of the season.

A field of seven – two colts, one gelding, and four fillies – entered the 4 1/2-furlong sprint.

Among them are Shanghai Bobby and Ju Ju Eyeballs, trained respectively by Todd Pletcher and Wesley Ward. This could be a sneak preview of more such clashes to come, when Belmont’s revamped spring program gets under way and offers $70,000 pots along with a $100,000 bonus to any maiden winner that wins a graded stakes on the circuit in 2012.

Creative Cause moved closer to a start in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs with a five-furlong workout at Hollywood Park on Tuesday.

Creative Cause, who won the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes in March and was second to I’ll Have Another in the Santa Anita Derby on April 7, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20.

“The track might be a little bit slow today,” trainer Mike Harrington said. “He didn’t need to do any more than he did.”

LEXINGTON, kY. - The spring meet at Keeneland has been an unforgettable one for Andrew McKeever, the 45-year-old Irishman who going into this week of action was tied for the lead atop the trainer standings with 4 winners from just 8 starters. Easily his most noteworthy score came Saturday with Daisy Devine in the Jenny Wiley, giving McKeever the first Grade 1 victory of his 17-year career.

“It’s been a great meet so far,” said McKeever.[bc_video_id:249027:]

Del Mar will offer 43 stakes worth $7.75 million at its summer meeting, which runs from July 18 to Sept. 5, including two new stakes for 2-year-olds on turf and one race renamed to reflect a closer relationship between the racetrack and the Oak Tree Racing Association.

Oak Tree ran a fall meeting at Santa Anita from 1969 to 2009 and at Hollywood Park in 2010. The track did not run a meeting in 2011 and will not do so this year, but is forging closer ties with Del Mar and Hollywood Park, according to Oak Tree’s executive vice-president Sherwood Chillingworth.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Somali Lemonade made one of the most eye-catching stretch runs you’ll ever see in winning the Jessamine Stakes over the Keeneland turf course last fall. Her rally was far less effective when she finished sixth in her only subsequent start, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but trainer Michael Matz chalks that up to racing luck.

ARCADIA, Calif.– When Derive was claimed for $32,000 by owner Rick Wiest and trainer Robertino Diodoro, they thought he could become a stakes winner.

Their prediction was correct. Their latitude was way off. Derive was winless in three starts at Northlands Park in Edmonton last summer.

Switched to Turf Paradise in Arizona last fall, Derive reeled off six consecutive wins, including three stakes.

Having had a few days to reflect on becoming the first person to win 1,000 races at Lone Star Park when Primal Jones won Saturday’s second race there, trainer Steve Asmussen didn’t quite know what to make of it.

“I didn’t know they were open that long, or that I’m this old,” he quipped.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Coolmore Lexington Stakes might produce a starter for the Kentucky Derby after all. Bob Baffert has decided to run Castaway in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington on Saturday at Keeneland, and a victory would give the colt enough graded earnings to run back in the Derby if his connections so wished.

Bold Chieftain and Lady Railrider, perhaps Northern California’s top older male and female runners over the past few years, were retired this year to begin their breeding careers. Both are doing well, say farm personnel.

Lady Railrider was bred to Lucky Pulpit at Harris Farms, and Dave McGlothlin, who manages the farm, reports that she is healthy and in foal.