There were only 52 recorded works on the main track Wednesday, a day after track maintenance crews completed a multi-day project to add sand to the surface.

Many trainers said they were taking a cautious approach to training Wednesday but planned more extensive works later this week. By comparison, there were 134 recorded works on Wednesday, Jan. 12.

Several trainers said the surface had responded well to the additional sand.

“I’ve asked a few of my riders, and they said it felt fine,” trainer Jack Carava said.

NEW ORLEANS – Al Stall called out instructions to the riders aboard a set of horses waiting on the racetrack alongside the outside fence before breaking off into their training regimens Wednesday morning To one exercise rider Stall said, “Regular,” but the rider shook his head and held up one finger, signifying one lap around, not the regular routine to which Stall had referred.

“That’s right, that’s right,” said Stall, who had been away from his Fair Grounds string the last two mornings while in Florida for the Eclipse Awards. “Two days away and you get out of your rhythm.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. –Trainer Tony Dutrow won with his first-ever Oaklawn Park starter on Monday and can keep the barn’s momentum going in Friday’s eighth race. He will send out Holyfield in a second-level optional $35,000 claiming race at six furlongs, and the recency the horse has on all but one of his six rivals makes him a chief contender.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Sidney’s Candy resumed training Wednesday at Santa Anita after tests conducted Monday revealed no injuries to his right hind foot, which kept him from starting in the San Fernando Stakes last week, trainer John Sadler said.

Sadler said that Sidney’s Candy will be pointed to the $300,000 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf on March 5.

The colt underwent a nuclear scan test Monday that is more detailed than a conventional X-ray and can reveal hard-to-find injuries. Sidney’s Candy’s tests revealed no injuries.

NEW ORLEANS – Little Polka Dot and Bella Medaglia might have been a little disappointing in their most recent races at Fair Grounds, but the two fillies are in much different positions coming into Friday’s featured sixth race here. Bella Medaglia must prove that after a long layoff she remains the same filly who finished second by a half-length in the Tiffany Lass Stakes last winter. Little Polka Dot, for her part, only needs to rebound to the form she showed Nov. 10 at Delta Downs to be a major factor in Friday’s first-level optional $25,000 claimer at a mile and 70 yards.

Sam Houston Race Park’s racing program has undergone a complete makeover for the 27-date meet that opens Friday. The calendar is condensed, while purses have expanded. The stakes program has been enhanced. And there will be afternoon cards every Monday through the close of the season March 7.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Most first-level allowance races are ordinary affairs, rarely eliciting more than passing interest other than from handicappers trying to find a winner to bet on. But first-level allowance races for 3-year-olds during the first two months of the Gulfstream Park meet are anything but blase, usually producing one or more contenders for the major Kentucky Derby preps to be decided later in the session.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Handle at Santa Anita has fallen through the first three weeks of the winter-spring meeting, but attendance is holding steady compared to the 2009-10 meeting, track president George Haines said earlier this week.

Through Sunday, ontrack handle was down 4 percent, while out-of-state handle had fallen 11 percent, Haines said. He described ontrack attendance as “flat.” More specific figures were not made available.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Alley Hondro made the successful transition from maiden claimer to allowance race winner against statebreds through the second half of 2010.

The question surrounding his 2011 campaign is how far can he progress against open company?

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Winter time on this circuit is the ideal time to experiment, and the connections of Driven by Success are doing just that when they send the stakes-winning sprinter a mile and 70 yards around two turns in Friday’s $60,000 Mr. International Stakes over Aqueduct’s inner track.