Mr. Commons ran himself into the Santa Anita Derby picture with a good allowance win Feb. 28. The pace of the mile race was slow (47.02 seconds for a half-mile), which subsequently led to a slow final time (1:34.84). As a result, the number was soft - 89 Beyer.

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The first two times Turbulent Descent and Zazu met, Turbulent Descent prevailed. But in their most recent meeting last month, Zazu finally got on the scoreboard. Round four between the two most accomplished 3-year-old fillies on the West Coast takes place Saturday, when they square off in the Grade 1, $250,000 Santa Anita Oaks.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $100,000 Honey Fox is the feature on Saturday’s card, but it may be the eighth race that will garner the most attention. The $61,500 optional claiming dash lured a field of nine, including Aikenite in his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Sunshine Millions Sprint runner-up Apriority, and the speedy Tahitian Warrior, who began his career with a sensational maiden victory on opening day of the 2010 Gulfstream meeting.

Schramsberg will attempt to become the second horse in Sam Houston Race Park history to complete a sweep of the track’s two richest races for older horses when he runs Saturday night in the $150,000 Maxxam Gold Cup Handicap.

He is the 121-pound highweight in the 1 1/8-mile race that drew shippers from Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, and Sunland Park. The 11-horse field also includes Black Hills, the New Mexico-based horse who was eighth last out in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic at Gulfstream Park, as well as multiple stakes winners Red Lead, Stachys, and Z Humor.

ARCADIA, Calif. − They seem to arrive annually, these equine treats from Jenny Craig.

The lady whose name is synonymous with a chain of weight loss centers she founded in the 1980s with her late husband is today an active grandmother living near Del Mar with a small stable of top-class Thoroughbreds.

In recent years, the Craig breeding operation has been good enough to send horses to the Kentucky Derby, although Chocolate Candy finished fifth behind Mine that Bird in 2009 and Sidney’s Candy was 17th behind Super Saver last year.

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ARCADIA, Calif. – Caracortado, who will be after his first Grade 1 win in Saturday’s $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, has changed in the last year.

A 4-year-old gelding once eager to be part of the early running of a race, Caracortado now races as a closer.

Shug McGaughey has run an odds-on favorite in the Kentucky Derby, runner-up Easy Goer in 1989, so he has no delusions about how a colt named Admiral Perry matches up with the top 3-year-olds of 2011.

McGaughey went out of his way this week to put Admiral Perry on a northbound van from his Florida base for Turfway Park, where on Saturday night the dark bay colt will be one of the favorites in the $100,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – That huge sigh of relief coming from Palm Meadows early Thursday afternoon wasn’t from a consignor who’d just peddled one of his 2-year-olds at the Fasig-Tipton sale. It came from trainer Nick Zito after learning his top Kentucky Derby contender Dialed In would get the all-important prep race he’d been looking for Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

Red’s Round Table was much better than both Heather and Sweet Susan when the trio of 3-year-old fillies met a month ago in the Marshua Stakes at Laurel Park. The question is whether the same thing will happen when Red’s Round Table is asked to race an extra furlong in Saturday’s $75,000 Wide Country Stakes at Laurel.

Aqueduct was forced to cancel its live racing program and simulcast operations Thursday after casino construction workers accidentally severed a cable that made it impossible for the New York Racing Association to take wagers or broadcast its races.