1. Doctor Pav
Owner: Clockwise Racing
Trainer: Jonathan Nance
Jockey: Debbie Hoonan
Won his division in Leg 1 and came back with a solid closing third place finish last time out against a loose on the lead Castle Pines.  If the pace develops swiftly like it just might, could be the kind of horse who could sit a stalking trip and be a contender in the lane. 

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There have been more than 400 claims made at Aqueduct this winter, and one of the better ones may be Expression, whom trainer Charlton Baker will attempt to turn into a stakes winner in Wednesday’s $75,000 Limit Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Claimed by Baker for himself for $35,000 out of a winning effort in Jan. 11, Expression finished second in a restricted first-level allowance race before winning a starter/optional claimer going six furlongs on Feb. 16.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The last time Questing raced, it was on the main track in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies for trainer John Gosden. When Questing launches her 3-year-old campaign in Wednesday’s $62,750 main event at Gulfstream Park, she will be competing on the turf against a modest field of first-level optional $75,000 claimers and will be saddled for the first time by her new trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin .

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In the wake of Union Rags’ brilliant performance last month in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, it sounded like Gulfstream Park’s racing secretary, Dan Bork, would be hard pressed to assemble even a handful of 3-year-olds willing to take on the division leader, even for $1 million, in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 31. Now it appears the field size will not only be respectable but that Union Rags may not have any walk in the park in his final Kentucky Derby prep.

One horse who ran the fastest winning Beyer Speed Figure of his career while racing on one day’s rest in his most recent trip to Parx Racing and another returning from a 5 1/2-month layoff and attempting to regain the form that made him a three-time stakes winner in 2011 will clash in Tuesday’s $75,000 Bensalem Stakes.

The 6  1/2-furlong Bensalem, an overnight stakes, drew a field of eight older sprinters and goes as the featured ninth race at 3:50 p.m. Eastern.

A first-time starter, Crafty Unicorn, forced all the pace and went on to defeat nine more seasoned rivals Monday in the colt and gelding division of the $100,000 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Championship, the anchor race on the annual Day of Champions program at the OBS Sales facility in Ocala, Fla.

Owned and trained by Dennis Manning and ridden by Angel Serpa, Crafty Unicorn finished the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:45.80 in defeating Burn the Mortgage by 1 1/4 lengths. Moon Traveler was third in a field of 10.

Though his focus remains the Grade 1 sprint races at Saratoga for Agave Kiss, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Monday he will consider stretching out the undefeated New York-bred filly to a mile in the Grade 3, $250,000 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct on April 7.

Agave Kiss made it 4 for 4 on Saturday with another front-running score, this time by three lengths in the Grade 3, $150,000 Cicada Stakes. It was her first graded victory. Agave Kiss, a daughter of Lion Heart, is owned by Flying Zee Stables.

Trainer Chad Brown’s stable had an excellent weekend, winning stakes races at three different tracks. That included a one-two finish with Hardened Wildcat and Beggarthyneighbor in the $100,000 Fred “Cappy” Capossela for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.

Brown also won the Grade 3 Hillsborough at Tampa with Zagora and Sunday’s Grade 3 Herecomesthebride at Gulfstream with Dayatthespa.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The migration of better horses to New York from south Florida is still several weeks away. One horse getting a head start on his brethren, however, is Birdrun, who arrived at Belmont Park over the weekend and will start in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct.

Birdrun, who won last year’s Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap at Belmont, has not run since finishing second to longshot Afleet Again in the Breeder’ Cup Marathon at Churchill Downs last November.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – While there were some quality runners on last Saturday’s program at Tampa Bay Downs and some strong individual performances there’s little question the star of Festival Day was Zagora, who gets more impressive with each passing race.