NEW ORLEANS – When Applauding was scratched from last month’s Silverbulletday Stakes, it left Believe You Can as the lone front-runner, and she seized the opportunity. Here it is five weeks later, and again, for the Grade 3, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds, Applauding will be scratched, removing one potential speed horse from the lineup.

Among the 10 3-year-olds entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park, The Lumber Guy and Brimstone Island own by far the two best last-race Beyer Speed Figures. Neither horse, however, may be quite as good as he appears on paper.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Oaklawn Park announced on Thursday that overnight purses will be increased approximately $100,000 a week for the remaining eight weeks of the season that runs through April 14. The boost was to begin with Thursday’s program.

With the increase, Oaklawn’s purse distribution is projected to be nearly $18 million this meet, an average of more than $320,000 a card. The increase is the second of the season at Oaklawn.

ARCADIA, Calif. – A month later than intended, Amazombie, the 2011 champion sprinter, makes his first start of 2012 in the $200,000 San Carlos Stakes at Santa Anita on Saturday.

The Grade 2 San Carlos is a race that co-owner and trainer Bill Spawr approaches with some measure of trepidation. Run over seven furlongs, the San Carlos drew only six runners and may have a standout pacesetter in The Factor, the winner of the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes here on Dec. 26 for the red-hot trainer Bob Baffert.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In an era when even smaller tracks such as Delta Downs and Charles Town are hosting million dollar races, a $100,000 purse rarely buys more than a field of allowance-type horses no matter the venue. So it’s all the more amazing that for a mere 100 grand Gulfstream Park has managed to attract an Eclipse Award champion, Royal Delta, and a Grade 1 winner riding the crest of a four-race victory streak, Awesome Maria, for Saturday’s Grade 3 Sabin.

PHOENIX, Ariz. – There’s a common theme running through Turf Paradise’s two big races for 3-year-olds Saturday: Can the local contingent in the $75,000 Turf Paradise Derby and $35,000 Arizona Oaks keep the Southern Californian barbarians at the gate? That’s the question as 10 males line up in the 1 1/16-mile Derby (race 8) while six fillies go at it in the mile Oaks (race 6).

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Sweet Seventeen might have been her own worst enemy when she blew a two-length lead in the final furlong of last month’s Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, a race she lost by a neck to Captivating Lass.

In what was her first start around two turns, Sweet Seventeen – the 4-5 favorite – had a little difficulty negotiating the first turn. In the stretch, she never switched to her correct lead, resulting in a bit of leg weariness that stopped her from offering any resistance when Captivating Lass came to her.

The Fair Grounds barn office of trainer Tom Amoss sits just a few yards from the clocker’s stand, a hub of morning activity. Horsemen parade to the stand to watch their stock train and to communicate with the clockers. It’s a place to do a little business and pass a bit of gossip, a focal point of the backstretch community. Amoss chats and verbally jousts with some of the visitors. Others keep a distance, cast a cold eye. And even those on superficially friendly terms with Amoss realize their horses could wind up in his stable.

The stewards at Golden Gate Fields allowed a claim made last Friday to stand, even though there were two errors on the claiming slip. Typically, a claim is disallowed if there are any mistakes on the claiming slip.

Powers Lilsis was claimed from Billy Morey after winning a $12,500 claimer on Friday. There were several claims put in for the 7-year-old mare, and Jerry Hollendorfer and his client George Todaro won the shake over Andy Mathis.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Peter Walder reports that Force Freeze came out of his impressive victory in Saturday’s Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship in good fashion and will now be pointed for the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Handicap on Kentucky Derby day. Force Freeze earned the highest Beyer Speed Figure of the year, 108, for his effort in the GP Sprint.