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LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the second straight year, Keeneland racing officials were only able to round up five horses to run in the Grade 2, $175,000 Commonwealth Stakes, which makes you wonder about its long-term feasibility. But that won’t matter a bit Saturday to Charlie Lopresti, who will saddle Wise Dan, the likely favorite for the seven-furlong Polytrack race.

“I’m just glad they’re running it,” Lopresti said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Gail Cox enjoyed a career year last year, sending out 11 winners from 67 starters for purses of $754,295 here at Woodbine.

And while her 18-horse stable should make Cox a going concern again this season, she will have to make do without Simply Splendid, who was her most productive performer last year with earnings of $255,540 despite making just three starts.

“I miss her already,” said Cox, who also owned Simply Splendid in partnership with John Menary and sold the mare for $200,000 at Keeneland last November.

New York shipper Wind Caper could be the beneficiary of a  key defection from a field of seven female sprinters entered for Saturday’s $75,000 Primonetta Stakes at Pimlico.

Two of the prime contenders in the Primonetta, Sweet Goodbye and Five Diamonds, are cross-entered in the $250,000 Sugar Maple, a seven-furlong stakes at Charles Town. Sweet Goodbye is committed to the Sugar Maple, while Five Diamonds are likely to remain in Maryland.

Without Sweet Goodbye in the lineup, the Mike Hushion-trained Wind Caper would become a solid favorite for the six-furlong Primonetta.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Madman Diaries, Canada’s reigning champion 2-year-old, returns to Woodbine on Saturday to contest the $150,000 Woodstock Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds.

Madman Diaries started three times at Woodbine in 2010. He was a runaway maiden winner second time out in May, and then doubled up in the five-furlong Victoria Stakes, earning an Beyer Speed Figure of 86. After running second here in the July 17 Colin Stakes, he captured the Grade 3 Sapling Stakes at Monmouth, and was a front-running fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Churchill.

If for no other reason than four of the six members or the field are making their turf debuts and the other two will be making only their second turf starts, Saturday’s $75,000 Golden Poppy at 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Golden Gate Fields figures to be a wide-open event.

Beginning with the opening of the Belmont Park spring meet on April 29, the New York Racing Association will reduce the minimum bet on pick fours to 50 cents. Currently, the minimum wager on a pick-four is $1.

NYRA offers two pick fours each card. On Saturdays, NYRA’s late pick four has a guaranteed pool of $250,000 at Aqueduct. Last spring, at Belmont, the guaranteed late pick-four pool on Saturdays was $300,000 and NYRA plans to offer the same guaranteed pool at this spring/summer meet, pending state approval.

New York will hold its first 2-year-old race of the year on Friday at Aqueduct, and handicappers will likely have to choose between a couple of Wesley Ward-trained runners in the 4 1/2-furlong dash.

Ward actually entered three in the race but Forever Noble, the lone filly in the field, will scratch to run in Maryland, Ward said. Ward will go with Lord Chelsie and Steve’s Adventures.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s powerhouse meet at Oaklawn Park continued on Wednesday, when he sent out two winners on the card including Tidal Pool in the inaugural running of the $100,000 Redbud.

When trainer Jim Hooper opted to run Inherit the Gold in the Grade 3 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on April 2, he all but ruled out running the gelding back in the $1 million Charles Town Classic this Saturday. But as much as he may have wanted to give his New York-bred gelding a break, Inherit the Gold had other ideas.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Court intervention has kept the aptly named Court Vision in the field for the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile. Although he was expected to be scratched after the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission denied trainer Rick Dutrow a license, the commission has decided that Court Vision, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, will be permitted to run under the name of a new trainer, Justin Sallusto.

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