ARCADIA, Calif. – Comma to the Top, who has emerged as the leading 3-year-old in California in the last two months, is likely to make his next start in the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 12.

Trainer Peter Miller said Thursday that the El Camino Real Derby over 1 1/8 miles on Golden Gate’s synthetic Tapeta Footings surface is preferred to the $250,000 Robert Lewis Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on a dirt track at Santa Anita the same day.

“At this point, we’re leaning toward Golden Gate,” Miller said. “We know he likes that track.”

OZONE PARK, N.Y. − Usually, the winter in New York is a time for an apprentice jockey to shine. This winter, it has been journeyman Junior Alvarado who has stood out in his first stint riding on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Alvarado, the 2009 leading rider at Arlington Park, moved his tack to New York in late fall. After going 0 for 5 at Belmont, Alvarado went 7 for 47 during the Aqueduct fall meet. But his star has risen this winter, when he has ridden 14 winners from 111 mounts, placing him third in the inner track standings.

Ransomsgoodfriday will get a stiff class test when she makes her first start against winners Saturday in the $120,000 La Senora at Sunland Park, but she has several things working in her favor.

Ransomsgoodfriday owns the best career Beyer Speed Figure in the field of 12. She earned a 71 for her wire-to-wire, maiden-special-weight win at Sunland on Dec. 28, when she went six furlongs in 1:10.40. With more natural speed than most of her rivals, she might have a chance to steal away in the La Senora, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies bred in New Mexico.

The Ohio State Racing Commission on Thursday approved the sale of River Downs in Cincinnati to a Las Vegas-based casino company, Pinnacle Entertainment, according to Ohio racing officials.

Pinnacle, which owns casino properties in Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nevada, reached an agreement to buy the track late last year for $45 million from its private ownership group, contingent on the approval of Ohio regulators. The company is hoping to install slot machines at the track, along with the owners of Ohio’s other struggling harness and Thoroughbred tracks.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dancinginherdreams isn’t among the finalists for an Eclipse Award in the 2-year-old filly division at Monday night’s ceremonies to be held just down the road from Gulfstream Park on Miami Beach. But her name is surely near or even at the top on many experts’ lists of 3-year-old filly prospects coming into the 2011 campaign.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The initial list of races for Sidney’s Candy at Santa Anita this winter did not include a start in Saturday’s $150,000 San Fernando Stakes.

The first goal, the Grade 3 Sir Beaufort Stakes on Dec. 26, went as planned with a victory by 7 1/4 lengths. The next idea mentioned was the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf March 5. The colt quickly indicated to trainer John Sadler that he wanted to do much more after the Sir Beaufort.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Four of trainer Todd Pletcher’s meet-leading 14 victories at Aqueduct have come in stakes. Pletcher has a 40-percent chance to add to his totals when he sends out Heart Butte and Alma d’Oro in Saturday’s $65,000 Evening Attire Stakes at 1 1/16 miles over the inner track.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – They call it the Skyway Festival, this two-race series Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. Twin $75,000 stakes, the Pasco and Gasparilla, purport to serve as bridges to more important races later in this meet, although it remains to be seen what degree of impact either will carry toward those longer and richer events.

The Las Vegas-based casino company that has reached an agreement to buy River Downs in Cincinnati has named Kevin Kaufman the general manager of the racetrack, according to a letter from the president of the company, Pinnacle Entertainment, to its employees.

The current general manager of River Downs is Jack Hanessian, who did not immediately return phone calls on Thursday.