Stella Thayer’s first memory of what is now Tampa Bay Downs came when she was 11 years old, going there with a friend whose father ran the track at the time when it was known as Sunshine Park.

“As minors, we could not go in, so we stood on the roof of the car and watched the races,” said Thayer, now 85.

Mark Casse has a similar first memory. As a young teenager, Casse came to the track with his father, a trainer, but also was not allowed inside.

Perfect Shot, who won the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic over a strong field last month at Sam Houston, is being discussed for a possible start in the Azeri at Oaklawn Park, trainer Steve Asmussen said last week. The Grade 2, $400,000 race is March 7.

Perfect Shot was up for a half-length win in the 1 1/16-mile Ladies Classic for Whisper Hill Farm.

“Solid mare, ran her best race to date,” Asmussen said.

Asmussen said the 5-year-old is improving with age, which tends to be the case with the offspring of her sire, Gun Runner.

Brad and Sharon Kleven will jump onto the Kentucky Derby trail Sunday with recent auction purchase Express Kid, the 3-1 morning line favorite for the $500,000 Sunland Derby at Sunland Park.

Express Kid brought $800,000 during a Fasig-Tipton digital flash sale last month and was sent to trainer Justin Evans. The horse won the $300,000 Springboard Mile and earned 10 points for the Kentucky Derby in December at Remington Park for trainer Wade Rarick. Express Kid was then moved to Turf Paradise.

Buetane, who ran third in last week’s Grade 3, $1 million Southwest at Oaklawn, has returned home to Southern California, according to his trainer, Bob Baffert.

Baffert said Monday that plans for the horse have yet to be determined. Buetane was Grade 1-placed in September, when he ran second in the Hopeful, won by eventual champion Ted Noffey. Buetane, who is by Tiz the Law, was making his two-turn debut in the Southwest.

Butch Reid has hit a rough patch with Maximus Meridius, but the trainer said he has not lost an ounce of faith in the 5-year-old gelding. Looking to keep him close to home, Reid decided to pull him out of the $150,000 Toboggan at Aqueduct last Saturday, where he would have opened as the 7-2 third choice.

Reid instead entered him in a $55,000 allowance at Parx Racing on Wednesday, Feb. 4, but the Pennsylvania-bred struggled to overcome a troubled trip and finished fifth. He was later promoted to fourth because of a disqualification.

After a slow January hampered by weather, Brittany Russell is poised to unleash a barn full of live stakes runners in the coming weeks. The parade will begin with Complexity Jane and Sultry Lass in the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel on Saturday.

The trainer said Wednesday that Complexity Jane, a three-time stakes winner last year, is “doing great” ahead of her 4-year-old debut. In November, the filly returned from a three-month break and rattled off two straight victories in a pair of $100,000 stakes at Laurel. She is the likely favorite on Saturday.