Though Mike Hushion isn’t normally one to run his horses back on short rest, the veteran trainer sounds almost giddy about running Nicole H in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park just two weeks after her last start.

“This is one case where I’m really loving it,” Hushion said Thursday morning outside his Belmont Park barn. “You see her out there, you see how big and round she’s getting. Two weeks and a nice half-mile work to go seven-eighths, I really like it.”

ARCADIA, Calif. – Suggestive Boy, widely considered Argentina’s top horse of 2011, is the latest South American star to arrive at trainer Ron McAnally’s stable at Santa Anita.

Suggestive Boy won four Group 1 races in Argentina in 2011 – the Gran Premio Raul y Raul Chevlier, the Gran Premio Estrellas Juvenile, the Argentine 2000 Guineas, and Gran Premio Jockey Club. Owned by Jose Cerrillo of Mexico, Suggestive Boy went through quarantine in Florida and arrived in Southern California last Sunday, McAnally said.

Deniro was the surprise winner, and fastest qualifier, in time trials on Jan. 28 for Saturday’s $197,700 Los Alamitos Winter Derby for Quarter Horses.

With a modest record at 2 in the Pacific Northwest, Deniro had little trouble adapting to the perceived tougher racing circuit in Southern California. Now, the gelding must do it all over again in Saturday’s 400-yard final.

Owned by Shane O’Leary and trained by Ugo de la Torre, Deniro has drawn the outside post in a field of 10 in the Winter Derby, a race that lacks a major stakes winner from 2011.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.- Animal Kingdom used an allowance race on the turf at Gulfstream Park last winter as a stepping-stone to his victory in the 2011 Kentucky Derby and trainer Graham Motion has selected a higher-level optional claiming/allowance race over the grass here Saturday as his one and only prep for an even bigger payday six weeks down the road in the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

ARCADIA, Calif. – There were 11 1/2 lengths between Ellafitz and Vision in Gold at the finish of the minor Paseana Handicap at Santa Anita on Jan. 15.

The win gave Ellafitz her second consecutive victory. She will be favored in Saturday’s $200,000 Santa Maria Stakes over 1 1/16 miles. The loss by Vision in Gold left trainer Ron Ellis disappointed, but anxious for the Santa Maria, which Vision in Gold won in 2011.

“I think she needed the race last time,” Ellis said. “That’s the only reason I can come up with.

“She’s doing awesome. She’s trained really well.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Marilyn’s Guy may not be fully cranked in his first start in almost 11 months. He may not have to be at his optimum to win Saturday’s $75,000 As Indicated Stakes at Aqueduct.

Marilyn’s Guy faces just four rivals – including the streaking San Pablo – in the As Indicated, which supplanted the scrapped Stymie as the feature on Saturday’s 10-race program at Aqueduct. With only five entrants, the As Indicated, at one mile, will go as race 4, keeping it out of the pick six.

PHOENIX – Once upon a time in Southern California, Derive looked destined for big things. Alas, this fairy tale hasn’t come out the way Derive’s connections had hoped, but Saturday’s $75,000 Phoenix Gold Cup gives Derive a chance to bring about a happy ending and prove he is the best sprinter on the grounds.

A field of 10 is slated for the six-furlong Gold Cup – the marquee event of the Turf Paradise meet – which goes as race 7 on a card that also features the $35,000 Turf Paradise Handicap and $35,000 Sun City Handicap.

There are plenty of similarities among Hansen and his full older brother, Tapanna – except for the Eclipse Award, of course. The most important traits in common are the identical pedigrees and still-to-be-determined levels of talent, although it’s obvious that Hansen, as the 2-year-old champion of 2011, always will have a greater claim to fame.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Florida Derby day is the biggest day on the Gulfstream Park calendar each winter. And if the track’s president and general manager, Tim Ritvo, has his way, it will get even bigger this year.

Ritvo is hoping to lure the three top fillies and mares in the country – Horse of the Year Havre de Grace and Eclipse Award winners Royal Delta and Awesome Feather – to Gulfstream for the Grade 3 Rampart, which is one of six other stakes to be run on the March 31 Florida Derby program.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – At the top of the stretch of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, it appeared Force Freeze was on his way to victory, only to be run down late and drop a neck decision to ultimate Eclipse Award winner Amazombie. It’s a moment Force Freeze’s trainer, Peter Walder, will never forget.

“That race still haunts me,” said Walder. “I think we ran the best horse that day. They say Force Freeze ran 15 feet further than the winner, but none of that matters. We still finished second.”