HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – If trainer David Fawkes opts to keep Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Big Drama home in south Florida to launch his 2011 campaign in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector at Gulfstream Park rather than ship cross-country for the Sunshine Millions Sprint, it’s possible Apriority may take his stablemate’s spot on the flight to the West Coast later this month.

But before doing any California dreaming, Apriority needs to have a prep race. That opportunity comes here in Thursday’s $55,000 main event to be decided at one mile under second-level optional claiming conditions.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Drosselmeyer, unraced since winning the Belmont Stakes last June, has had two easy three-furlong breezes at Payson Park and could make his return to racing within a couple of months, said trainer Bill Mott.

Drosselmeyer has recovered from an ankle injury that led Mott to announce in early July that the colt was being withdrawn from consideration for the Travers Stakes and would miss the last half of 2010.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dry Martini turned 8 last week but there are still signs of life in the old boy.

Dry Martini, runner-up to Quality Road in last year’s Donn Handicap, was winless in 2010 but closed out the year on a good note by rallying from far back to finish third in an overnight stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 20. Trainer Barclay Tagg will now point Dry Martini, who has earned over $1.3 million in his career, for the Sunshine Millions Classic here Jan. 29.

Monzon, one-length winner of the Count Fleet Stakes here at Aqueduct on Saturday, will most likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $225,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 12, trainer Ignacio Correas IV said Monday.

Corras said the Sam Davis is a better alternative than the $100,000 Whirlaway Stakes here on Feb. 5 because it is a graded race and earnings in graded stakes races are needed to qualify for the Kentucky Derby.

Unzip Me is likely to stick to turf following her sixth stakes win in Sunday’s $100,000 Monrovia Stakes on the hillside turf course.
Dilemma could show up in a variety of races after winning his first graded stakes in Saturday’s $100,000 Daytona Stakes on the hillside.

Unzip Me was never seriously challenged in the Monrovia, leading throughout under Rafael Bejarano to win by 1 1/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite. The Grade 3 Monrovia was her first start since a third against males in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on Nov. 6.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Jockey Omar Berrio, who was released from the hospital Saturday evening, two days after suffering a stroke, does not appear to have sustained any permanent damage and is scheduled to visit with a doctor on Thursday to determine whether he can return to riding in the near future, said his wife, Karina Berrio.

“They said he’s doing pretty good,” she said. “He doesn’t need therapy. I asked the doctor when he can go back to work. He said, ‘Give him a few days to relax, but he’s doing pretty good.’ ”

Battle of Hastings has won graded stakes in California, Virginia, and Kentucky, and now the 5-year-old gelding is looking to add Florida to the list.

Fresh from capturing the Grade 3 River City Handicap on Breeders’ Cup weekend at Churchill Downs in his first try for trainer Greg Fox, Battle of Hastings will run Sunday at Gulfstream in the Grade 3, $100,000 Fort Lauderdale Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.

Hawthorne Race Course’s 2010 fall-winter race meet ended Friday with a 7.8-percent gain in all-sources average daily handle compared to the 2009 meet. This year’s gain wiped out last year’s loss, when average daily handle dropped 7 percent. Ontrack handle on the live product continued its inexorable decline: Betting on that front was down 3.8 percent and has dropped more than 22 percent since 2007.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Already flush with many of the best 3-year-olds in training, south Florida will be getting another one relatively soon in Crossbow, who won a six-furlong maiden race at Aqueduct on Sunday by three lengths.

After getting hard-used in a ridiculous speed duel when finishing third in his debut on Nov. 27, Crossbow contested more manageable fractions on Sunday, drawing away from the well-meant first-time starter The Fed Eased.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – The seal is broken. Hardly anyone would be surprised to see Kentucky Derby winners start coming in clumps for Todd Pletcher now that he has finally won one. The breakthrough win by Super Saver in the 2010 Derby means some of the pressure has been taken off, Pletcher said.

“You can take a deep breath and let it happen,” he said.