AUBURN, Wash. – Tom Wenzel, as hot as any trainer at Emerald Downs, will send out the powerful entry of Tasya and Rossi Reserve in Saturday’s feature race, a $20,000 claimer for 3-year-old fillies at 5 1/2 furlongs. The eight-race card begins at 2 p.m. Pacific.

Wenzel had a rather quiet 2010 at Emerald, saddling 15 winners and finishing in the middle of the pack in the trainer standings. But less than halfway through the current meeting, Wenzel, 45, is poised to meet or surpass his 2010 win total in the very near future, perhaps as early as Saturday.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Wasted Tears almost purrs like a cat when the insides of her ears are scratched. Touch her belly, though, and her ears pin straight back. At the first sight and sound of the commuter train that passes just north of the Arlington backstretch, Wasted Tears didn’t even lift her head from grazing.

ELMONT, N.Y. − Rail Trip won’t be participating in his third consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup when that race is run Saturday at Hollywood Park. But that doesn’t mean his connections don’t have big plans for him.

After watching Rail Trip run a bang-up second in an overnight stakes last month at Belmont Park, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. is pointing him to the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 6. On Thursday, Rail Trip worked six furlongs in 1:13.36 over a fast but dull Aqueduct main track.

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MIAMI – Trainer Steve Klesaris claimed Derwin’s Star for $10,000 during the fall of 2009. On Saturday, Klesaris’s bargain buy will stand an excellent chance of becoming a Grade 1 winner as one of the leading candidates in the $350,000 Princess Rooney Handicap, the finale on Calder’s rich Summit of Speed program.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Trainer Kelly Breen has two strong prospects for the $1 million Haskell Invitational in Belmont Stakes winner Ruler On Ice and Pants On Fire who took the Pegasus Stakes last time out.

Breen could have a third, depending on the outcome of the $150,000 Long Branch Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on Saturday at Monmouth Park.

OCEANPORT, N.J. – Teaks North came out of his United Nations Stakes victory in fine shape and will now be pointed to the Sword Dancer at Saratoga on Aug. 13.

“He could have run the next day,” trainer Justin Sallusto said of his emerging turf star. “He only ran about a quarter of mile. He was strong galloping out and pulling up. He’s a very fresh horse.”

The 4-year-old Teaks North got a ground-saving trip from jockey Eddie Castro and responded with a powerful stretch run for his second straight stakes win at Monmouth Park, and second Grade 1 triumph of the season.

Jockey Rosie Napravnik, who ranks in the top 10 nationally in wins and purse money won in 2011, was scheduled to have surgery Thursday afternoon at Christiana Hospital near Delaware Park to repair a broken left arm sustained in a spill at the track Wednesday afternoon.

SHAKOPEE, Minn. – A resolution to the state’s budget impasse or a favorable ruling by a judge will bring racing back to Canterbury Park this weekend and along with it a pair of Minnesota-bred stakes races. The MTA Stallion Laddie and Lassie stakes for 3-year old colts and geldings and 3-year old fillies, respectively, will be contested at 6 1/2 furlongs over the dirt and feature the progeny of stallions that were sold at the 2006 Minnesota Thoroughbred Association’s stallion auction. Each stakes carries a purse of $25,000.

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Race-by-race, Coil is gaining a larger reputation in California’s 3-year-old division.

It’s not that there is much to conquer. The group has had a weak year, evidenced by the absence of any wins or placings in the Triple Crown in the spring by California-based runners.

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Will the affinity All for Thee and Snow Fall have shown for Delaware Park’s main track be enough to overcome the classy company St. John’s River has kept in Kentucky and Louisiana?