A last-place finish by 2009 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Dancing in Silks in an allowance race for statebreds on Thursday has left trainer Carla Gaines and owner Ken Kinakin puzzled.

“The horse is fine,” Gaines said. “I wish I had a crystal ball.”

Dancing in Silks ended his 2010 campaign winless in five starts, and failed to finish in the first three in his last four starts of the year.

Gaines said that she and Kinakin have discussed options such as retiring the 6-year-old Dancing in Silks to trying him on turf for the first time since the summer of 2009.

It’s fair to say that Daisy Devine went overlooked in Thursday’s entry-level allowance feature for 2-year-old fillies. The third-time starter had gotten drummed at Keeneland racing on Polytrack in her career debut, and a second-out dirt-sprint maiden win at Fair Grounds had come for a $30,000 claiming price.

“I knew she was doing really well, but I couldn’t make a case for her,” said trainer Andrew McKeever.

Few others could, either, and when Daisy Devine came home one length to the good, she paid $82.20 to win, and that in just a six-horse field.

Fair Grounds will boost overnight purses 5 percent across the board beginning with Thursday’s card, the track announced Friday. Stakes purses, many of which were trimmed during the 2009-2010 meeting, will remain at current levels.

Fair Grounds suffered steep handle declines last season, and structured its purse payments conservatively for this meet. Fair Grounds, as per Churchill Downs Inc. policy, doesn’t publicize handle figures, but Eric Halstrom, general manager and vice president for racing, said business is up this season.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After beginning his career with three wins from his first four starts, Icabad Crane had won just once in his last 17 outings. That one win came over Aqueduct’s inner track in the King’s Point Handicap last March.

Fast Alex won this past Monday’s featured second-level allowance race by three-quarters of a length, but trainer Greg Geier thinks Fast Alex can go much higher than allowance competition. Now 3 for 3 in Fair Grounds dirt routes, Fast Alex has as a tentative long-range goal the New Orleans Handicap in March, Geier said Friday.

“I think he he’s got a lot more room to improve,” said Geier, who already won the first older-horse dirt-route stakes of the Fair Grounds meet, the $60,000 Tenacious, with Country Flavor. “He acts like he’s got more in the tank.”

Enchanted Outlaw missed by a nose last out in his first start in six months, and on Sunday will get a rematch with the horse who caught him on the wire, Double Smart. The pair meet in the $100,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile handicap for older New Mexico-breds at Sunland Park. The race has drawn a diverse field of 12.

Trailing apprentice rider Marcelino Pedroza by five winners and veteran Rodney Prescott by four winners heading into Friday night, closing day of Turfway’s holiday meet, jockey Jozbin Santana seems all but assured of falling short in the race for the meet’s leading rider.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Preparation has not gone entirely to plan for Evening Jewel or Unzip Me, the favorites Sunday in the Grade 3 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita.

First it was wet, then cold, and another storm could move the race from turf to dirt. Eight fillies and mares entered the 6 1/2-furlong race; Evening Jewel and Unzip Me have not raced since third-place finishes Nov. 5-6 in the Breeders’ Cup.

Evening Jewel, third in the Filly and Mare Sprint, breezed a sharp three furlongs Thursday in 35.40 seconds, “just to get a little pump in her,” trainer Jim Cassidy said.

A pair of Louisiana-bred entry-level allowance races on the Sunday card at Fair Grounds attracted a total of 16 entrants. Add up their perceived monetary value, and it probably wouldn’t pay for half of Achieving.

MIAMI – Trainer Shug McGaughey already knows his long-winded Casablanca Smile gets along beautifully with jockey Javier Castellano. What the Hall of Fame horseman isn’t sure about is how the two-time Group 1-winning Chilean-bred will get along with the Calder turf course if he sends Casablanca Smile in Sunday’s Grade 3, $150,000 La Prevoyante Handicap.

The Grade 3 La Prevoyante, originally scheduled to be run on Dec. 11, will close out the 2010-2011 Tropical at Calder stakes schedule. The Tropical meet ends Tuesday, and the Gulfstream Park meeting opens Wednesday.