HOT SPRINGS, Ark.– Havre de Grace does not enjoy the kind of rock-star status that Belle Watling has in her native Chile. Nor is she a Grade 1 winner like Miss Match or Switch. Havre de Grace, in fact, is one of the least decorated of the five fillies and mares who will meet Friday at Oaklawn in the Grade 1, $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap.

But make no mistake – she is the one to beat.

Those that didn’t hear Cody Autrey had returned to train at Lone Star Park need only look at Friday’s card there for a reminder. He has five horses entered in four of the nine races, including favored Stand in the featured fifth race, a $25,000 second-level allowance scheduled for 7 1/2 furlongs on grass.

His entries are all among the favorites. Unexpected Valor is the 5-2 morning-line choice in the opener; the Midwest Thoroughbreds-owned entry of Dublin Da’bet and Galactic are 4-5 in race 2; Stand is 8-5; and Carson’s Honor is the 7-2 second choice in the eighth race.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Biofuel, who was Canada’s Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly of 2010, had her first major exercise of the season here Monday.

Working on the dirt training track, Biofuel went in 59.40 seconds breezing and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.

“She’s come to hand very, very quickly,” said Reade Baker, who trains the homebred Biofuel for Brereton C. Jones.

“She did the same thing last year. She gets going in leaps and bounds, once she gets there.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For a first-level optional $40,000 claimer for older horses this late into the meet, Friday’s $66,900 feature at Gulfstream Park has come up pretty salty, attracting a field that includes Grade 2 winner How’s Your Halo, the lightly raced but speedy Savemyspotimbeting, and the undefeated Won Fast Bullet.

And then there is Sean Avery who hasn’t started since finishing sixth, beaten less than three lengths by Cherokee Country, in the 2009 Fall Highweight at Aqueduct.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Rosehill Dew makes her American debut in a $56,000 allowance race at Santa Anita on Friday with ample promise from her recent training and the company she kept last year.

A 3-year-old French import, Rosehill Dew impressed trainer Ron McAnally last fall when she finished a game second in an allowance race in France to Golden Lilac, trained by prominent trainer Andre Fabre. Shortly after that race, Rosehill Dew was acquired by McAnally’s wife, Debbie.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park will disperse any carryover of the popular 10-cent Rainbow 6 pool on Saturday, April 23, rather than on April 24, closing day of the 2011 meet, the track announced Wednesday.

The 10-cent Rainbow 6, which had a carryover of $1.17 million entering Thursday’s card, requires the bettor to have the only winning ticket on a given program to collect the jackpot. The jackpot has been paid out four times this season, but not since Feb. 16, when the present pool began to grow. The largest payment to date was $221,000 on Jan. 27.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - With Uncle Mo suffering his first defeat last weekend and Premier Pegasus sidelined by injury, The Factor has risen to the top of most of the Kentucky Derby charts. He even was made the 7-2 morning line favorite for the race in preliminary odds issued earlier this week by Churchill Downs.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The speedy Altius will meet older Ontario-sired opposition Friday at Woodbine in the seventh race, a nonwinners-of-three allowance. He shouldn’t be out of his league in the 5 1/2-furlong dash, unless things get too hot and heavy on the front end.

Altius made six starts last year at 2, all in Ontario-sired company. He graduated second time out July 25, earning a respectable 68 Beyer Speed Figure.

Arthur’s Tale, runner-up to Toby’s Corner in last Saturday’s $1 million Wood Memorial, came out of the race with a popped splint bone in his left foreleg and will not make the May 7 Kentucky Derby, trainer Tom Albertrani said.

With only $200,000 in graded stakes earnings, Arthur’s Tale was in a precarious position as far as making it into the 20-horse Derby field as it was, but this injury now cements his fate.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Santiva was listed as the 3-1 favorite after being assigned post 3 in a field of 12 3-year-olds entered to run Saturday in one of the last remaining Kentucky Derby prep races, the 87th running of the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.