ARCADIA, Calif. – The reputation of the 4-year-old turf miler Mr. Commons will only grow in coming months, jockey Mike Smith says.

Smith rides Mr. Commons on Saturday when he tries to beat older horses for the first time in the $150,000 Arcadia Stakes over a mile on turf at Santa Anita. The Grade 2 Arcadia is the third race on a 10-race program, and is not part of the pick six.

“The thing that impresses me more is that we still haven’t seen the best from him,” Smith said. “He’s developing, getting stronger, all the good stuff.

ARCADIA, Calif. – January has been Tapizar’s month at Santa Anita the last two years, with eye-catching wins in the Grade 3 Sham Stakes in 2011 and the Grade 2 San Fernando Stakes last month.

February was not good to Tapizar last year. He finished fifth in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis Stakes and emerged from the race with an injury that kept him sidelined until October.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Five weeks ago, Winning Image came within a neck of upsetting 2-5 favorite Nicole H in the $75,000 Interborough Stakes at Aqueduct.

Michael Aro, the trainer of Winning Image, is expecting a different result Saturday when the two fillies meet again in the $100,000 Correction Stakes at Aqueduct.

“I’ll beat her this time,” Aro said Thursday by phone from Parx Racing. “I know that’s not the best thing to say, but if the track favors speed I don’t think I should have a problem. The biggest edge I have is I’ve got the 7 hole and she has the 1 hole.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Endorsement came within days of participating in the 2010 Kentucky Derby, only to be sidelined by a condylar fracture discovered shortly after an impressive workout on the morning entries were to be taken for the race. Now, the talented colt is ready to return to top-level competition once again following his easy 2 1/4-length allowance victory here Wednesday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Six years ago, Bernardini used the Grade 3 Withers Stakes as a springboard to success in the Preakness. Saturday, one of Bernardini’s sons hopes to use the same race as a way to get into the Kentucky Derby.

Category Seven will launch what is likely her final season of racing on Saturday night, when she drops in from Grade 1 company for the $50,000 Jersey Lily at Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.

A field of 11 fillies and mares will go in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, including Pleasantly Blessed and Vickies in Town, a pair of multiple stakes winners coming off races at Fair Grounds.

Among the trio of 3-year-old fillies in Saturday’s $75,000 Marshua Stakes at Laurel Park with a stakes win to their credit, Dance to Bristol, based at Charles Town with trainer Ollie Figgins III, seems to hold a distinct advantage over Defy Gravity and Dancing Anna.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Darrin Miller expected Diez to break a little slowly and expected him to come running at the end when he launched his career going five furlongs on the turf here last month. What Miller didn’t really expect was for Diez to win the race

Miller’s expectations may be a little higher when he wheels Diez back under similar conditions in Saturday’s $60,000 Needles. The five-furlong overnight turf dash drew a field of only seven 3-year-olds which also includes stakes winners Hello Prince and Musical Flair.

With 26 hopefuls going to post in three divisions of the event's first leg, The Portland Meadows Route Claiming Series got underway Wednesday and trainer Jonathan Nance got off to a flying start.

Daisy Devine, one of the top older females stabled in New Orleans this winter, is back on a steady work pattern after missing a little time, and is on course to race Feb. 21 in the Mardi Gras Stakes, trainer Andrew McKeever said Wednesday.

Daisy Devine ran her career turf record to 2 for 2 with a dominant win in the Nov. 26 Pago Hop, but until she returned to the work tab on Jan. 16, the filly hadn’t posted a timed workout since that start.