ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita’s main track closed for training at 8:30 on Thursday morning because of drainage issues just past the finish line, an area track superintendent Richard Tedesco wanted to address prior to Thursday’s races. By noon, the track was back to normal, all set for the day’s races, which began at 1 p.m. Pacific.

The area of concern was largely from the middle of the track to the outer rail, and from the finish line to the seven-furlong pole. Heavy equipment removed the wet material, new material was added, and then the track was harrowed.

Desert Wheat will try to win his first race since 2009 and recapture the form that made him a five-time Fair Grounds grass course winner when he starts in the $60,000 Dixie Poker Ace for Louisiana-bred on Saturday, but he is hardly the only horse in the hunt Saturday for faded Fair Grounds glory. Later on the card, a high-end dirt-sprint allowance includes Cash Refund, a perfect 4 for 4 on the Fair Grounds main track, and Grasshopper, who makes his first start since March 13.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When Dance Quietly runs in Saturday’s $65,000 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, it will mark the first starter from owner/breeder Edward P. Evans’ stable since he died on Dec. 31 at the age of 68.

Dance Quietly will run under the banner of the Edward P. Evans Foundation, which has a board of trustees with Chris Baker retaining his position as farm and racing manager for Evans.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – See I A is one of many recent success stories for Midwest Thoroughbreds, the nation’s’ winningest owners last season. See I A will seek his fifth straight win on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs when he makes his stakes debut in the $60,000 Pelican Stakes at six furlongs.

Huber Villa-Gomez will handle See I A at 116 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Pelican Stakes

Trainer Henry Dominguez got a great deal when he went “shopping” through Del Mar’s claim box this past summer. He took Imco Spirit for $12,500, and by December the horse had won two allowances and the $200,000 Zia Park Distance Championship back home in New Mexico.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Battle of Hastings and Get Stormy were assigned posts 1 and 2 as the likely favorites in a field of 12 older horses that will clash Sunday in the Fort Lauderdale Handicap, the first of back-to-back Grade 3, $100,000 stakes at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

Battle of Hastings comes off a victory in the Nov. 4 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs, while Get Stormy is a six-time stakes winner making his first start since finishing well back of Goldikova in the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Though Moonlit Malibu is facing winners and trying two turns for the first time in Saturday’s $65,000 Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct, she has shown enough promise where she just may be the right one in the seemingly wide-open race for 3-year-old fillies.

Five of the seven horses entered for the Busanda are coming off wins in their most recent starts, including Queen’s Harbor, who won the East View for New York-bred fillies over the inner track on Dec. 5.

Bluegrass Dreamer has the qualifications to win Saturday’s $50,000 Turfway Prevue for 3-year-olds at Turfway Park, having won a maiden race at Woodbine and having been sixth there in the $152,000 Display Stakes in his last start Nov. 28. He has the pedigree, too, being a son of Grade 1 Haskell winner Bluegrass Cat and a half-brother to a pair of European group winners, including Dr. Fong, winner of the prestigious Group 1 St. James’s Palace at Ascot.

Louisiana Downs will open its Quarter Horse meet Saturday with some new wagering options. The track will offer 50-cent trifectas and pick fours for the first time during the 46-date season.

“We’ve been trying some new initiatives here, and that’s one of them,” said Trent McIntosh, director of racing operations for Louisiana Downs. “Similar to a penny slot machine on the casino floor, the 50-cent bets provide the customer with greater value. It gives them more combinations, more chances to win.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It has been well documented that 2010 was a successful but frustrating year for trainer Nick Zito, a season of near- misses in major stakes that culminated with Morning Line’s heart-breaking defeat at the hands of Dakota Phone in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.