There was a small fire in the office at trainer Pat Kelly’s Belmont Park barn Thursday afternoon.

According to New York Racing Association officials, the fire occurred at around 1 p.m., but the office’s sprinkler system was able to extinguish it. While there was some damage to the office, no horses or humans were hurt. Further, none of the horses had to be evacuated, according to NYRA officials.

The Elmont Fire Department was called to the scene and is investigating to find out the cause of the fire.

Three leading contenders for major 3-year-old stakes in coming months worked Friday.

Creative Cause, winner of the Grade 1 Norfolk Stakes at Santa Anita in October and third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs in November, breezed three furlongs in 37 seconds at Hollywood Park. Trained by Mike Harrington, the workout was Creative Cause’s first official exercise since returning to training in early December.

Creative Cause is expected to make his 3-year-old debut in the $150,000 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs Feb. 19.

Up In Time won two graded stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 2011, a season that ended on a frightening note. She clipped heels and unseated jockey Martin Garcia in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park on Nov. 25, a scare for the partners that own the filly and trainer Simon Callaghan.

“She all but fell,” Callaghan said. “The rider had no chance of staying on.”

Fortunately, Garcia and Up In Time were not injured in the incident. They will be reunited for Monday’s $100,000 Monrovia Stakes over about 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares on the hillside turf course.

The filly Always Here Too earned a slot in the Jan. 21 Silverbulletday Stakes with an allowance race victory Wednesday at Fair Grounds, and if all goes according to plan with the colt Shared Property, trainer Tom Amoss will have 3-year-olds to run in both the Silverbulletday and Lecomte Stakes on Fair Grounds’ first significant multiple open-stakes card of the meeting.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Rumor, a stakes winner at Del Mar in September, makes her first start in nearly four months in Sunday’s $75,000 Kalookan Queen Handicap at Santa Anita.

The race is designed as a prep for the $300,000 Santa Monica Stakes, a Grade 1 over seven furlongs, but trainer Richard Mandella is somewhat reluctant to think that far ahead with Rumor.

“She’s just kind of delicate,” Mandella said.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. − The way she reeled off three consecutive victories here last winter and spring, Nicole H had her connections thinking big. But after an illness sidelined her for the summer and most of the fall, Nicole H will have to start over again if she is to realize those lofty expectations.

As a perennial leading trainer in New Mexico, Henry Dominguez has won a high volume of stakes across the state. But one meaningful race he has never been able to lay claim to is the $110,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial, which is named for his brother. That could change on Sunday. Dominguez will send out top contender Brother Louie in the 1 1/16-mile handicap that will be run at Sunland Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Say A Novena and Awesome Belle made their last starts in the Breeders’ Cup, Quick Flip is an undefeated stakes winner, but Sacristy could prove the one to beat when launching her 3-year-old campaign Sunday in the highly competitive Old Hat Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

[bc_video_id:241012:]ARCADIA, Calif. – The female grass division in California often gets quiet in winter, and 2012 is no exception.

Grade 1 winners Star Billing, Harmonious, and Nereid do not return until spring for trainer John Shirreffs; top European imports Desert Poppy and Camelia Rose will not be rushed by Simon Callaghan, whose leading 2011 turf filly Dubawi Heights is retired.

[bc_video_id:241010:]OZONE PARK, N.Y.– Even before his home track Parx slapped him with a 10-year ban for an indecent assault charge, trainer Juan Carlos Guerrero was planning to try his luck in New York this winter. Guerrero shipped seven horses to Aqueduct earlier this month and on Sunday will send out his first starter, Bahama Bound, in the $75,000 Ladies Handicap at Aqueduct.