Midnight Transfer is likely to start in an allowance race around two turns next month after winning a maiden race over six furlongs on Monday’s opening day.

Trainer Carla Gaines said she had no specific plans for the 2-year-old colt, who is by Hard Spun, but was impressed by his victory in his fourth start. Ridden by Joel Rosario, Midnight Transfer ($6.40) stalked a quick pace of 21.45 and 44.03 seconds set by 9-5 favorite Bernster, rallied three wide, and pulled clear to win by 4 3/4 lengths in 1:08.02.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The coming months may call for a change in surface for Mr. Commons and international travel for The Factor. Both 3-year-olds won graded stakes at Santa Anita on Monday’s opening day of the winter-spring meeting.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – At the same time trainer Stanley Gold was orchestrating Awesome Feather’s undefeated, Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old campaign in 2010, he was guiding the fortunes of a 2-year-old colt he also felt had exciting potential. Unfortunately, not only did Grande Shores’s juvenile campaign end prematurely, it’s taken Gold until the final week of the homebred’s 3-year-old season to finally get him back to the races.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Thursday’s $75,000 Swirlaway Stakes at Aqueduct drew a field of only six New York-bred juvenile fillies, but the race is a complex handicapping puzzle. Three of the contenders have yet to prove themselves on a dry dirt surface, two have won only in the maiden claiming ranks, and one has simply not run very fast.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Capt. Candyman Can has had some bumps along the way, but the Grade 1 winner is ready to resume his career once more in Saturday’s Grade 3 Mr. Prospector.

Trainer Ian Wilkes had to stop on Capt. Candyman Can for nearly 15 months following his eighth-place finish in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and again this spring after his third-place finish in the Grade 3 Aristides at Churchill Downs. But after working five furlongs in 1:02 at Palm Meadows on Tuesday, Capt. Candyman Can looks like a go for the six-furlong Mr. Prospector, Wilkes said.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Michelle Nihei and Jessica Campitelli got a belated Christmas present when they saddled two winners apiece on Monday’s card.

Nihei’s two winners couldn’t have been any more different. Donnatale, a 2-year-old Tale of the Cat filly, scored an impressive victory over maiden special weight opposition under jockey John Velazquez in her debut. Woodford Belle, on the other hand, was fit enough returning from a 16-month layoff to capture a 1 3/8-mile optional claiming race on the turf in her U.S. debut with Edgar Prado aboard.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Redeemed continues to work regularly  for his 2012 debut, going five furlongs in 1:02.88 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:16 here Tuesday.

Taylors Deal moved back to dirt and it paid off for the 2-year-old son of Second in Command as he captured Monday’s $35,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at Turf Paradise.

Owned by North American Horse Company and trained by Sandi Gann, Taylors Deal won his debut on dirt at Hastings Oct. 2, ran second in his second start on dirt at Santa Anita Oct. 30, but then ran fourth in a turf race here Nov. 28.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita enjoyed big gains in both attendance and handle on Monday’s opening day of the winter-spring meeting, and impressive performances by Mr. Commons in the Sir Beaufort and The Factor in the Malibu gave the crowd of 44,579 plenty to cheer.

The crowd was the largest on opening day since 1994 and 30 percent bigger than the crowd of 34,268 that attended last year, when opening day was on a Sunday.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Both Santa Anita and The Factor came roaring back to life on Monday.

Santa Anita had a blockbuster opening day, with an ontrack crowd of 44,519 – the largest opener since 1994 – stuffing itself into the facility on a gorgeous afternoon.