NEW ORLEANS - Gantry proved in the F.W. Gaudin Memorial stakes that he is a better horse right now than Cash Refund - about three inches better.

Two months after winning a photo from Cash Refund in the Thanksgiving Handicap, Gantry did the same thing Saturday in the Gaudin, capturing the $72,000 race by a nose.

"I think this might even have been a hair closer than the last one," said winning trainer Ron Faucheux.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was a sprinter kind of morning at Gulfstream Park on Saturday with the two most prominent names on the work tab Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up Force Freeze and the much improved Associate, who is coming off a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita.

Cowgirl N Up edged Nothinbettertodo to win the $50,000 Bara Lass on opening night of the Sam Houston meet on Friday. The race for 3-year-old fillies bred in Texas was the first of three stakes on the card. They served as the first half of Texas Champions Weekend, which continues Saturday night with four stakes led by the $100,000 Star of Texas.

Cowgirl N Up ($8.80) won the second stakes of her career when she rallied to cover seven furlongs in 1:24.29. Larry Taylor was aboard Cowgirl N Up for owner-trainer Caroline Dodwell.  

ARCADIA, Calif. – A trip down Interstate-5 from Pleasanton to Santa Anita gave Coach Bob an upset win in an optional claimer for 3-year-olds on Friday, and has kept trainer Reina Gonzalez in business.

Coach Bob ($47) led throughout the six-furlong race for California-breds, winning by 3 1/2 lengths under red-hot apprentice jockey Eswan Flores, who had three wins on the Friday card.

The victory in the $58,000 race was the richest of Gonzalez’s 10-year career as a trainer. She has been based in Northern California through that time, and has five horses in training.

Tup Take’ Please and Philly Bound, a pair of stakes winners in 2011 who encountered less than smooth sailing in their season debuts two weeks ago, return at a slightly longer distance for Tuesday night’s featured eighth race at Charles Town.

The 6 1/2-furlong two-turn race is open to horses who have not won an allowance or stakes since Sept. 24, nonwinners of four races lifetime, and $20,000 claimers.

Extract the 19-for-19 record posted by a certain Eclipse Award recipient in his barn, and trainer David Wells still had a fine 2011. From 321 other starts last year, Wells won 67 races with horses not named Rapid Redux, good for a .21 win percentage that stacks up well anywhere you go.

NEW ORLEANS – The unbeaten 3-year-old filly Applauding won’t run in the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds after showing colic-like symptoms Saturday morning. Applauding was treated with banamine, which is commonly given to horses who are acting colicky, but can’t be used on race day.  

Aqueduct has canceled its live card for Saturday due to a snowstorm that has blanketed the northeast, but Aqueduct and the Belmont Café will be open for simulcasting and NYRA Rewards telebet and internet wagering will be available.

Racing at Aqueduct is expected to resume Sunday. The $75,000 Evening Attire stakes, originally scheduled for Saturday, will be rescheduled for next Saturday.

The New York area was to receive about six inches of snow from the storm, which was expected to continue until late afternoon.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Rumor, the winner of the minor Kalookan Queen Handicap on Jan. 1, worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Friday at Santa Anita  in advance of her Grade 1 debut in the $300,000 Santa Monica Stakes for fillies and mares on Jan. 28.

Rumor worked alone for trainer Richard Mandella, who said he did not expect a quick time.

“We don’t want her leaving it on the racetrack,” Mandella said. “She was ready last month, and we need to keep her happy.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Arienza was all the rage last meet at Oaklawn Park, where this daughter of 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri won the first two starts of her career and then ran second in the Grade 2 Fantasy.

Saturday, she returns to the site of her greatest hits looking to recapture her best form in the $50,000 American Beauty. The six-furlong race for fillies and mares drew a strong cast of 11, including stakes winners All About Allie, Rattlin Gypsy, Mindy Sue, and Gleaming.