It never made any sense, even with a current glut of 3-year-old stakes races, that the Louisiana Derby and its new-for-2011 $1 million purse would wind up with short field. The number of horses considered probable starters sagged last week, but new names have been thrown into the mix – chief among them Elite Alex – and it’s possible that as many as 12 horses will wind up in the race when Louisiana Derby entries are taken late Sunday morning.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It was no surprise that trainer Todd Pletcher won the third race here Saturday. What was a surprise to many was the horse he won the race with.

Pletcher sent out the first and second finishers in the one-mile, entry-level allowance test for 3-year-olds, with the lesser-regarded Dance City outgaming the 1-5 Cal Nation under jockey Javier Castellano. Bowman’s Causeway, a troubled fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in his previous start, finished third after racing prominently throughout.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Corey Nakatani needed 10 tries to win his first stakes at the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, finally doing so in Friday’s $79,150 Joe Hernandez Stakes aboard the highly-promising turf sprinter Regally Ready.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Chris Englehart, currently tied for third in Aqueduct’s inner-track standings, will begin serving a 15-day suspension on Sunday due to a medication violation incurred at Mountaineer Park earlier this month.

According to a ruling issued by the Mountaineer stewards, the Englehart-trained Blue Sands had the presence of the unauthorized drug methocarbamol, a muscle relaxer, in his system after winning the first race at Mountaineer on March 6.

Pagan Cat and Fool Proof, a pair of West Virginia-breds who in their distant past scored victories in six-figure stakes, look to regain their form while returning from long layoffs in Tuesday night’s allowance co-feature at Charles Town.

Although both Pagan Cat and Fool Proof have four wins apiece, they are eligible for Tuesday’s seven-furlong, $26,000 race for nonwinners-of-two-lifetime because all but one of their combined eight victories came against West Virginia-bred company.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Elite Alex will be scratched from Saturday’s Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn and will run next in the Grade 2, $1 million Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds on March 26, his trainer, Tim Ritchey, said on Saturday morning.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Regally Ready won his second consecutive turf sprint, and first career stakes, in Friday’s $79,150 Joe Hernandez Stakes at Santa Anita.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Regally Ready ($3) led throughout the race over about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course, and won by 1 3/4 lengths over 12-1 Leroy’s Dynameaux. Gallant Son, second early, finished third in the field of seven.

Scott Stevens guided home favored Summer Nights ($4.60) in Friday’s fourth race at Turf Paradise to register his 4,000th career Thoroughbred winner.

Stevens now has 4,157 winners for all breeds. He recorded his overall 4,000th winner for all breeds at Canterbury Downs on Aug. 9, 2009.

In the five-furlong turf race for $16,000 claiming fillies and mares, Stevens put the 5-year-old mare right on the lead and steadily increased his margin, eventually winning by seven7 lengths for owner/trainer Miguel Silva.

Lone Star Park will offer two new wagers when the track opens for racing April 14. There will be a 10-cent Super Hi-5 and a 10-cent Fortune 6. The Fortune 6 will have a reduced takeout of 12 percent, according to a release the track issued on Thursday.

The Super Hi-5 requires bettors to select the first five finishers of a race in exact order. It will be offered on the last race of every card when there are at least seven betting interests. The Fortune 6 requires bettors to select the winner of six consecutive races. It is to be available on the final six races of each program.

Desert Gamble, who has won the $100,000 Dominguez Memorial and an allowance in his last two starts at Sunland, will be out to make it three in a row Sunday in the $125,000 New Mexico State University Handicap. The mile and 70-yard race is for 4-year-olds and up bred in New Mexico.