The mild temperatures in New York this winter has made it feel more like spring, a season that can’t come soon enough for trainer David Donk.

Donk says he has turned out 10 turf horses for the winter and is anxiously awaiting the return of grass racing. One of his top turf females is Hessonite, who is expected to rejoin Donk’s New York string this weekend. Hessonite spent the last couple of months at a farm in Delaware.

Hessonite, a 4-year-old New York-bred filly, won two stakes last year, including the Ticonderoga on Oct. 22.

Jockey Eddie Castro, out since mid-October with a fractured back, is getting close to returning, according to his agent, Mike Gonzalez.

Castro was expected to see his doctor on Friday in New York and if given permission, he could be getting on horses in the morning shortly thereafter. If all goes well, Castro could return to race-riding by Jan. 25 or Feb. 1, Gonzalez said. It has not yet been determined whether Castro will winter in New York or south Florida.

Castro sustained a hairline fracture of his L 1 vertebra in a spill at Belmont Park in mid-October.

Gospel Gal is already a stakes winner, but it looks as if she’s really coming to hand and on Saturday night she will be looking to build off an 11-length allowance score when she starts in the $75,000 Genesis at Delta Downs.

The Genesis is a 7 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies. It will be run around two turns, the same configuration over which Gospel Gal won a seven-furlong allowance at Delta on Dec. 22. She rallied from off the pace for the double-digit score and earned a career-high Beyer Figure of 73.

ARCADIA, Calif . - One of the calling cards of trainer Ron McAnally’s career has been his aptitude with South American imports, notably Bayakoa, Candy Ride, and Paseana, and he has two more top prospects joining his Santa Anita barn.

Interaction, the winner of South America’s most prestigious race, the Carlos Pellegrini, in 2009, is already here.

“He’s a good-looking horse,” McAnally said. “He got here about a week ago. He should make the meet.”

Quinton’s Doll Who, a front-runner, and Whisper’s Sister, a closer, will get a rematch Saturday in the $110,000 La Senora at Sunland Park.

The 3-year-old fillies met last month in the Enchantress at Sunland, with Whisper’s Sister running down Quinton’s Doll Who in the late stages for a half-length win. That race was at a mile, and on Saturday both fillies will be turning back to six furlongs for the La Senora, which is for 3-year-old fillies bred in New Mexico.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Brother Francis, who was third to Liaison and Rousing Sermon in the CashCall Futurity, is still winless after three starts, so trainer Jim Cassidy is taking advantage of that condition and will run him Saturday in a one-mile maiden race on turf at Santa Anita.

The race will be the first grass start for Brother Francis, who was second in his debut sprinting, then second in the Hollywood Prevue before the CashCall Futurity.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The way San Pablo has been running, it wouldn’t have surprised anybody had Todd Pletcher elected to bring him down to south Florida with his `A’ team for the winter.

But the multiple Eclipse Award winning-trainer felt there were better opportunities in New York for San Pablo and after looking at the way Saturday’s $75,000 Shots Are Ringing Stakes at Aqueduct came up, it’s hard to argue that point.

San Pablo will seek his third consecutive victory when he meets five rivals in the Shots Are Ringing, a mile-and-70-yard race restricted to 4-year-olds.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Bob Baffert was in a terrific mood on Thursday morning, wearing the smile of a proud trainer, and a relieved father.

On Monday night, Baffert’s son, Bode, 7, was complaining of pain in his abdomen. By Tuesday afternoon, Bode was undergoing surgery to have his appendix removed, and he seemed to come out of it better than his father.

When Clark Brewster purchased Cherokee Queen last fall it was, as much as anything, as a broodmare prospect. The mare was 6 then and coming off a non-competitive eighth-place finish in the First Lady Stakes at Keeneland. But Cherokee Queen showed in her first start for Brewster and trainer Steve Margolis that she was not quite ready for pasture life just yet, winning the Blushing K.D. Handicap on Dec. 17 with a good late rally.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After winning stakes on both coasts last weekend, Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stable is looking for an encore Saturday when it sends out Better Lucky in the $75,000 Ruthless Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Aqueduct.

Last weekend, under his Darley banner, Sheikh Mohammed won the Busanda at Aqueduct with Captivating Lass and the Sham at Santa Anita with Out of Bounds. For good measure, Shiekh Mohammed’s Godolphin Stable won the Count Fleet with Alpha at Aqueduct.