OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jim Hooper made the following observations as he perused the past performances of the six horses entered to run in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct.

“This might be the best race they’ve had all year in New York,” said Hooper, who trains Inherit the Gold, who seeks a repeat in Saturday’s Excelsior at 1 1/8 miles. “Which one of these horses would you throw out?”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Auditions for the Apple Blossom are being held Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

The Grade 3, $150,000 Azeri is the local prep for the meet’s biggest offering for fillies and mares, the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom on April 13. It also is the first half of a stakes double. The Grade 2, $500,000 Rebel, local springboard to the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby, will be run two races after the Azeri. They go as the eighth and 10th races on an 11-race program that starts at 1:05 p.m. Central.

ARCADIA, Calif. – If The Weather Channel’s forecast for heavy rain in the area for Saturday holds true, the chances of the Irish O’Brien Stakes staying on the downhill turf course are remote. And if the race is moved to the main track, the chances of race favorite Unzip Me staying in the Irish O’Brien are also remote, according to Marty Jones, the trainer of Unzip Me.

The 3-year-old sprinter Royal Currier, who set a track record for six furlongs in the $250,000 Gallant Bob Handicap, on Wednesday night was named as the Pennsylvania Horse of the Year at the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Associaton’s dinner Thursday night honoring Parx Racing’s best horses and horsemen for 2011.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Eclipse Award winner Royal Delta remains on target for her main goal for the opening half of her 2012 campaign, the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 31.

Trainer Bill Mott said Royal Delta is “doing wonderful” and on schedule for the World Cup. Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, she has started once this winter, finishing a distant second behind Awesome Maria in the Grade 3 Sabin here on Feb. 25. She has worked once since the Sabin, going five furlongs in 1:03 last Saturday at Payson Park.

ARCADIA, Calif. – It took quite a while for Ellafitz to grow up, but the wait has been worth it.

An underachiever for the first part of her career, Ellafitz, 5, has blossomed in recent months and now ranks as the leading older female on the West Coast. She will attempt to retain that position when she goes for her fourth straight victory on Saturday in the Grade 1, $300,000 Santa Margarita Invitational, the championship race of the meeting at Santa Anita for the division.

Portland Meadows posted a 2.6 percent increase in average daily all-sources handle during its 55-day 2011-12 meeting, which ended Wednesday. The meet began on Oct. 17.

Handle averaged $690,930 per day compared to $673,215 during the 73-day 2010-11 meet, according to a track release. All-sources handle totaled $38,001,156.

A total of $2,311,000 was paid in out in purses during the season for an average purse payout of $42,018 per race day. The average number of starters per race increased to 7.70 from 7.45 last season.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Beat Bob Baffert.

That’s been the story of the Rebel the last two years, and the Oaklawn Park Grade 2 reads much the same on Saturday. Baffert has favored Secret Circle in the Rebel, which he won last year with The Factor and in 2010 with Lookin At Lucky.

Trainer Pat Mouton and jockey E.J. “Tee Joe” Perrodin are married to sisters, and for years Tee Joe has ridden Mouton horses. On Wednesday, Feb. 1, the day before Perrodin was to ride for Mouton at Fair Grounds, Mouton called Perrodin to see if he wanted to ride anything that weekend. Perrodin, 55 and nearing the end of a long career, sometimes turned down the weekend mounts, choosing instead to drive home to Haughton, La., and spend a couple of days with his wife, Lisa, and 7-year-old son, Devin.

A pair of colts who finished far behind two of this season’s top Kentucky Derby prospects in graded stakes last time out will attempt to regroup against easier competition in Saturday’s $100,000 Private Terms at Laurel Park.