HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Battle Hardened, who broke his maiden in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes, will take his next big step on the Kentucky Derby trail next Saturday when he returns to Tampa Bay Downs for the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. Trainer Eddie Kenneally put the finishing touches on his preparations for the race by sending Battle Hardened out to breeze an easy five furlongs in 1:01.80 seconds before sunrise on Saturday at Palm Meadows, going in company with stablemate Force de La Nature.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Tyler Baze, who has not ridden since last summer because of a suspension for failing to take a Breathalyzer test, was hospitalized on Friday night because of an alcohol-related illness, according to a friend of the family.

The Eclipse Award winner as the nation’s leading apprentice of 2000, Baze was expected to be hospitalized over the weekend. He is expected to seek counseling upon his release, according to his former agent, Ivan Puhich.

“They’re going to take him to a rehab center,” Puhich said on Saturday morning. “I went by and saw him this morning.”

Debut winner Mikey Likes It will spot experience to stakes-placed fillies Select Cat and Union Victory in Monday’s featured ninth race at Parx Racing.

The six-furlong sprint, restricted to 3-year-old fillies eligible for a first-level allowance, carries a purse of $47,000 and attracted a field of eight, including the Ramon Preciado-trained coupled entry of Derwin’s Wildcat and Preach Easy.

Will Rogers Downs, the Claremore, Okla., track that experienced a significant growth in handle last year, will try to build on that momentum Monday, when it opens for a 32-date meet for Thoroughbreds. The season will run through May 19.

Will Rogers will race every Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, a schedule it adopted in 2010 and one that has helped the small track carve out a niche in the simulcast market. Last year, Will Rogers averaged about $500,000 a day in handle on its races on Mondays and Tuesdays, said Kelly Cathey, track operation manager at Will Rogers.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – On Fire Baby looked every bit the part of one the nation’s top 3-year-old fillies Saturday morning at Oaklawn Park, when she cruised five furlongs in 1:00.40. The move was the second-fastest of 42 at the distance, and it sets her up for a start in the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee on March 10.

On Fire Baby came onto the track right after the renovation break, and made her way to the indoor paddock on a sunny, chilly morning in which temperatures were in the 40s. After a ride through, she came back out on the track and continued warming up to the sixteenth pole.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Union Rags was challenging the mutuel field for favoritism as betting closed Friday in the first of three days of wagering into Pool 2 of the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

After $46,113 was bet into the win pool Friday, the field, the 24th or “all others” option, was the 2-1 favorite over Union Rags (3-1). Then came Hansen (12-1), who runs Saturday in the lone major prep of the weekend, the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct. Next in line were El Padrino (16-1), Creative Cause (18-1), and Alpha (19-1). Exacta handle Friday was $14,842.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Stachys, a four-time stakes winner who won an allowance route here Thursday in his first start since August, is a candidate for the Grade 2, $350,000 Oaklawn Handicap on April 14, trainer Mike Biehler said on Friday.

“That would be our goal,” he said.

“The Razorback is too quick back, so we’ll sit on him.”

The promising 5-year-old Capital Account will be favored to win an optional claimer over six furlongs in Sunday’s fifth race, but faces a multiple stakes winner in the 6-year-old gelding M One Rifle.

Capital Account races for leading trainer Bob Baffert. The horse won an optional claimer over 6 1/2 furlongs on Jan. 28 by 3 1/2 lengths as a heavy favorite.

M One Rifle is winless in six starts since the Cool Frenchy Stakes at Hollywood Park last May. He was last of seven in the Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes over a mile on turf on Feb. 4.

Travers and Jim Dandy winner Stay Thirsty, and Sanford Stakes winner Overdriven, both returned to trainer Todd Pletcher’s Palm Meadows stable on Wednesday.

The two horses had spent the winter at Jim Crupi’s farm in Ocala, Fla.

Pletcher said that both horses had been galloping for about a month and could return to the work tab within two weeks.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – On Fire Baby, one of the top 3-year-old fillies in training, will race on Lasix for the first time in her career next Saturday, March 10, when she starts in the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park.

The Honeybee will be On Fire Baby’s second start of the year. In her seasonal debut Jan. 16, she finished third against males in the $100,000 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn. Before that race, On Fire Baby won both the Grade 2 Pocahontas and Grade 2 Golden Rod at Churchill Downs.