DEL MAR, Calif. – Last winter, the dream was to get Pride of Silver into the Kentucky Derby. This fall, the dream is to get Pride of Silver into a lucrative stakes for 3-year-olds.

Friday at Del Mar, Pride of Silver starts in the $100,000 El Cajon Stakes for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles, his second start after a seven-month layoff caused by injury.

Trained by Bob Hess Jr., Pride of Silver approaches the race with promising form; he was second under jockey Victor Espinoza in an optional claimer over 1 1/16 miles in his comeback Aug. 13.

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Wins in the Golden State Derby at Los Alamitos come along about once every 20 years for the Dutch Masters III partnership of Denny Boer and Jim Streelman.

Holland Ease won the 400-yard race in 1992, a year after the colt finished sixth in the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs for trainer Bob Baffert.

Last Sunday, Baffert’s good friend Jaime Gomez was the winning trainer when Docs Apollo gave the Dutch Masters partnership a win in the $238,250 Golden State Derby.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Tu Endie Wei, undefeated in two starts for trainer Reade Baker and owner/breeder Brereton C. Jones, is slated to make her next appearance in the Oct. 7 Alcibiades at Keeneland.

The Alcibiades, a 1 1/16 mile for 2-year-old fillies, offers Grade 1 status and a purse of $400,000.

Tu Endie Wei is a Kentucky-bred and a half-sister to Biofuel, who was last year’s Canadian Horse of the Year for Baker and Jones.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – At the beginning of the year Too Much Dirt was considered one of the leading local candidates for the Grade 3, $200,000 British Columbia Derby, which comes up on Sept. 11. After all, he won the $52,000 Ascot Graduation, the only middle-distance race for 2-year-old males last year, and he closed out 2010 with a second-place finish in the $100,000 Jack Diamond Futurity.

BOSSIER CITY, La. – One of the better kept secrets during this summer at Louisiana Downs has been the emergence of trainer Al Cates. Aptly dubbed “Gentleman Al” by friends and colleagues for his gracious, positive, and articulate manner, Cates has been particularly proficient with his 2-year-olds.

Russell Baze, who dominates the jockey standings at Golden Gate as thoroughly as Jerry Hollendorfer does the trainer standings, was 0 for 23 at the Golden Gate met before finally riding his first winner Sunday. He came right back to win the next race.

After two weeks (he missed the first weekend with stakes assignments at Del Mar and Emerald Downs), Baze has two winners from 27 mounts, but he does have 11 seconds and four thirds.

Hollendorfer has three on Friday

After showing healthy increases at the Northern California fair tracks of Stockton, Pleasanton and Sacramento, handle decreased at the recently completed Santa Rosa and Ferndale meets. Both of those fairs were coming off strong 2010 seasons.

The Sonoma County Fair at Santa Rosa averaged $1,377,713 in handle from all sources during its 15-day meet, a decline of 13 percent from last year’s meeting of the same length. Daily average ontrack handle was up fractionally, to $268,018.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Idratherbeatthespa recently found a home in $40,000 conditioned-claiming company, and she should be well backed in Friday’s fifth race at Woodbine for nonwinners-of-two fillies and mares on the grass.

Idratherbeatthespa failed to hit the board in five 2-year-old appearances, which included three starts in stakes. She didn’t show much in her first two outings this year, but the drop from $40,000 to $20,000 on June 16 enabled her to graduate while going 1 1/16 miles, the distance of Friday’s race.

A poor start probably prevented Swiss Ski from winning his sixth race in a row when he was favored in a $22,000 claiming race at Northlands Park July 31. He could make amends in a $30,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up that will serve as Friday’s feature. The six-furlong sprint drew five horses and goes as the third race.

Welcome to Spa Babies! I'll break down the statistics for every juvenile contest at the meet and hope for a tidy profit.

In past years, I would list the stats for each horse before writing up my analysis, selections and wagering strategy. In order to streamline the content, this year's Spa Babies will showcase written analyses of each juvenile race. Each analysis will include relevant statistical information. Following the analysis, top three selections and wagering strategy will be provided.