OZONE PARK, N.Y. - As nice as the program is for 3-year-old males going long, New York’s stakes program for 3-year-old fillies wanting a route of ground is lacking. After the $100,000 Busanda last Saturday, the next scheduled stakes for 3-year-old fillies around two turns isn’t until the $75,000 Busher on Feb. 25.

The attorney for trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero said he was shocked to learn that Parx Racing was going to continue to enforce its 10-year ban of the trainer despite the fact assault charges were dropped against him last week.

Further, attorney William Goldman Jr. said Parx’s claim that Guerrero “is a potential threat to all the women of our backstretch” is “outrageous” and “defamatory.”

The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission is expected to hold a hearing on Parx’s ejection of Guerrero on Jan. 17.

Leading jockey Rosie Napravnik hopes to ride the Wednesday card, despite spraining both her ankles and incurring a deep bone bruise on one leg in a mishap before Sunday’s sixth race.

Napravnik was hurt when she was thrown from her mount, Benwill, who reared while going onto the turf course. Napravnik was taken by ambulance to East Jefferson General Hospital to be examined, and she said via text message Sunday evening that no fractures had been detected.

Summer Applause sold, moves to Calhoun

Havre de Grace, who is likely to be named 2011’s Horse of the Year later this month, has settled into her new home at Fair Grounds in New Orleans and began galloping under trainer Larry Jones this past weekend.

And Jones revealed Monday that he and owner Rick Porter might have a loftier comeback race in mind for Havre de Grace than the $100,000 New Orleans Ladies on March 17, mentioned as a possible launching pad for the mare’s 2012 campaign when she arrived at Fair Grounds last week.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Black Pen came off a near eight-month layoff to run a strong second in a first-level allowance race Aqueduct on Dec. 30. A step forward off that effort makes him the one to beat in Wednesday’s featured first-level allowance race going six furlongs in which he is coupled with Six Flings.

However, there are several members of this field coming off lengthy layoffs that loom major threats to Black Pen, if they are able to fire fresh.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As solid a race as Alpha ran winning Saturday’s $150,000 Count Fleet Stakes at Aqueduct, if he is going to become a legitimate contender for the Kentucky Derby, he is going to have to behave better in the starting gate.

That’s why Alpha will undergo stringent gate-schooling sessions between now and his likely expected next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Withers Stakes here on Feb. 4.

Saturday’s Grade 3 Hal’s Hope is the first major test for older horses here this season and could prove a stepping-stone to the Donn for one or more members. A small but talented lineup is expected, topped by defending champ Soaring Empire, Jackson Bend, and Will’s Wildcat.

Soaring Empire, who has not started since winning Monmouth Park’s Majestic Light on July 31, has been working steadily here for his return over the past two months for trainer Cam Gambolati. His final prep came Friday, an easy half-mile in 47.01 with jockey Julian Leparoux aboard.

Trainer Angel Bezara said he’s decided to skip the Grade 3 Holy Bull at a mile on Jan. 29 with Reveron, who posted his third consecutive victory in the inaugural Gulfstream Park Derby. Bezara’s next major goal for Reveron will be the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 26 with one prep somewhere in between.

“I’d like to stay here with him, if I can,” Bezara, who does not speak English, said through his interpreter Eibar Coa. “Hopefully, they can put up an overnight stakes of some kind for us at Gulfstream, it’s all he’s eligible for. If not, we’ll look out of town, perhaps Tampa.”

It’s with far less fanfare than one season ago that Joyful Victory begins her 2012 racing campaign on Wednesday at Fair Grounds.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If the stars align just right and everybody sticks to their current plans, all three reigning Triple Crown race winners could wind up making their 4-year-old debuts on the same day, Feb. 11, at Gulfstream Park.