OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Alpha passed another test - okay call it a quiz if you like - on the road to the Kentucky Derby with a good-looking 3 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct.

The win came one month after Alpha won the $100,000 Count Fleet Stakes here and confirmed his status as the top 3-year-old Derby prospect stabled in the Northeast. While the field Alpha defeated was not very strong, the performance was viewed as a step forward from the Count Fleet by both trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and jockey Ramon Dominguez.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Mr. Commons confirmed his status as California’s top miler, won for the first time against older horses, and survived an inquiry with his victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Arcadia Stakes at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Mike Smith, Mr. Commons ($2.80) closed from fifth in the field of seven to win the Grade 2 Arcadia Stakes over a mile on turf by a length, finishing in 1:33.41.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Calibrachoa kept his perfect record over Aqueduct’s inner track intact with a solid 2 1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan Stakes at Aqueduct.

 It was the fourth win in as many starts over the inner track for Calibrachoa, who also won the Toboggan last year when the purse was $100,000.

In three of her first five starts, Dance to Bristol has needed the photo-finish camera to determine whether she finished first or second. There was no close call in Saturday’s $100,000 Marshua Stakes at Laurel Park, however.

The Charles Town-based Dance to Bristol turned a tight race entering the stretch into an easy victory as she collected her second stakes victory in the six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - John Oxley's Dixie Strike closed stoutly while four wide to get up in the final stride and win her 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s $150,000 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs.

Dixie Strike, part of a favored Oxley-owned entry with Northern Passion, was content to sit off the dawdling pace set by More Than Love that included a half-mile of 50.79 seconds and six furlongs in 1:15.06.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The dominant Nicole H, absent from last month’s Interborough Stakes, was back at Aqueduct on Saturday, rallying along the rail in upper stretch and drawing clear to a 2 1/2-length victory in the $100,000 Correction Stakes at Aqueduct.

Emcee put on quite a show at Gulfstream Park on Friday, cruising to an easy victory over Grade 1-placed and odds-on favorite Associate under John Velazquez in the afternoon’s $53,500 allowance feature. The win was the second in as many starts for Emcee, a son of Unbridled’s Song who won his maiden by 4 1/2 lengths at Belmont Park on Sept. 14.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – This month’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park may have found another candidate from the unlikeliest of places, Saturday’s five-furlong Needles Stakes on the turf.

ARCADIA, Calif.– Bourbon Bay, the 6-year-old multiple stakes winner, will begin 2012 where he left off 2011 – racing against Sanagas in a graded turf stakes in Southern California.

Last November, in the final start of the year for both horses, Sanagas outran Bourbon Bay by 3 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup. They will both have their first starts of the year in Saturday’s $150,000 San Marcos Stakes at Santa Anita.

The eight-horse field for Tuesday night’s $35,000 overnight handicap at Charles Town includes a trio of stakes winners from 2011. The 123-pound highweight and probable favorite, however, is the ultra-consistent Maryland shipper Malibu Kid.

The 7-year-old Malibu Kid, who has been in the exacta in all eight of his previous trips to Charles Town, is favorably drawn on the rail and in sharp form for Tuesday’s seven-furlong, two-turn race.