Sam Houston Race Park in Houston is experiencing double-digit gains in handle three weeks into its season, and one of the keys to its success has been Monday racing. The track reached a Monday milestone this past week, when $1,790,127 was bet on its 10-race card from all sources.

“Last Monday was our biggest day for a Monday handle ever,” said Andrea Young, the president of Sam Houston.

The track first began incorporating Monday racing into its schedule in 2010, testing the concept for four dates in March. It became a regular part of the track’s racing calendar in 2011.

ARCADIA, Calif.– Uh Oh Bango, a three-time stakes winner and the runner-up to Game On Dude in the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Feb. 5, will make his next start in the $750,000 Santa Anita Handicap on March 3, trainer Kory Owens said on Friday.

For the Grade 1 Big Cap, run over 1 1/4 miles, Owens is hoping that the race scenario will favor Uh Oh Bango at the expense of Game On Dude. In the San Antonio over 1 1/8 miles, Game On Dude disputed the pace for the first half-mile, led by three lengths on the turn, and pulled away to win by 5 1/4 lengths.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Caleb’s Posse turned in his most serious work since winning the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on a chilly Saturday morning at Oaklawn Park, breezing five furlongs in 59.60 seconds. He is scheduled to make his seasonal debut March 3 in the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool at Aqueduct.

Caleb’s Posse worked by himself, on a clear and windy 28-degree morning in Hot Springs. He came out shortly before 10 a.m., and backtracked to the three-sixteenths pole under jockey Luis Quinonez, accompanied by a pony ridden by his trainer, Donnie Von Hemel.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -  Trainer Jonathan Sheppard said that a combination of a week’s worth of bad weather and the prospect of a wet track on race day prompted him to scratch his Kentucky Derby prospect Ever So Lucky from his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s seven-furlong Hutcheson at Gulfstream Park.            

“He needed some good, strong gallops during the week especially after we gave him a conservative work because of the wet track at the beginning of the week,” Sheppard said at his barn during training hours Saturday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The second of three days of wagering into Pool 1 of the 2012 Kentucky Derby Future Wager will start with the mutuel field as the 3-5 favorite after $104,126 was bet into the win pool Friday. Pool 1 closes Sunday at 6 p.m., and as with any parimutuel wager, odds will change throughout the weekend, with final odds established at closing time.

The field, the 24th or “all others” option, stood as the 3-5 choice Saturday morning, followed by Union Rags (8-1), Algorithms (17-1), Alpha (21-1), Hansen (24-1), and Creative Cause (27-1).

ARCADIA, Calif. - Amazombie, the champion sprinter of 2011, worked six furlongs in 1:12.40 on Friday, moving closer to his 2012 debut in the $200,000 San Carlos Stakes over seven furlongs on Feb. 25.

Trainer Bill Spawr timed Amazombie in 1:12, with the first three furlongs in 36.60 seconds and final three furlongs in 35.40. “It looks good,” Spawr said. “We’re on course.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Rodman, winner of the Grade 3 Queens County Handicap in 2009 and runner-up in last year’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, has been retired, owner Barry Schwartz said Friday.

A 7-year-old son of Malibu Moon, Rodman won 6 races from 18 starts and earned $416,152. In addition to winning the Queens County, Rodman won the Irish Tower overnight stakes.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Redding Colliery, front-running winner of the Evening Attire Stakes here at Aqueduct on Jan. 28, worked four furlongs in 48.22 seconds Friday morning in preparation for the Grade 3, $150,000 Excelsior on March 17.

Redding Colliery worked in company with Hockley and the pair went a quick first quarter-mile of 23.72 seconds before getting the second quarter in 24.50.

Though Redding Colliery is nominated to the $75,000 Stymie on Feb. 18, Art Magnuson, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s New York-based assistant, said the plan is to wait for the Excelsior.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Falaah, who has looked good winning two sprints over Aqueduct's inner track this winter, will be out until the fall after chips were discovered in his left front ankle, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin confirmed Friday.

Falaah, a 5-year-old son of Speightstown, will ship to Lexington, Ky. to have the chips surgically removed. In 2011, Falaah needed to similar surgery following his debut in February and didn’t return to the races until October.

McLaughlin said the plan is to bring Falaah back to the races later this year.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Junior Alvarado recorded his first five-win day as a jockey Friday, going 5 for 7 on the Aqueduct card card, including winning four consecutive races.

Alvarado won the opener aboard Pretty Cozzy ($11), who upset 2-5 favorite Specklebird.

After finishing third with Readygetsgold in the second, Alvarado won the third with Hardened Wildcat ($3.10), the fourth on Awesome Arceno ($15), the fifth with North Freeway ($8.30), and the sixth on Muster Up ($8.70).