STICKNEY, Ill. – Next Kitten is by Kitten’s Joy, a turf star in his day, and out of a mare by the European sire Danehill. His first four races came on turf and Polytrack, the surfaces for which he is best bred, but Next Kitten’s peak race came Nov. 24 at Hawthorne in his dirt debut, and it’s that performance that should make him the favorite in the $100,000 Jim Edgar Futurity on Saturday at Hawthorne.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Saturday has been circled on trainer Mike Puype’s calendar for months.

When Turbulent Descent made a successful debut in a maiden race at Hollywood Park in October, winning under a hand-ride from jockey David Flores, a start in Saturday’s $300,000 Hollywood Starlet became a feasible goal.

Turbulent Descent became the favorite for the Grade 1 Starlet when she followed her maiden race win with a comprehensive victory in the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes over seven furlongs on Nov. 21.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After Stormy’s Majesty won the Grade 3 Discovery last month, trainer Dominic Galluscio wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next with the 3-year-old New York-bred. With limited lucrative opportunities on the horizon, Galluscio was contemplating giving the colt a little break and point for 2011.

Apprentice jockey Jason Gracia, seriously injured in a Nov. 27 spill at Aqueduct, has shown significant improvement during his hospitalization, according to a press release from the New York Racing Association on Thursday.

Gracia, 28, sustained broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a hairline fracture of his neck when his mount fell during the day's third race.

Initially on a ventilator at Jamaica Hospital in New York City, Gracia was transferred Wednesday to North Shore Medical Center on Long Island, where only an IV tube was inserted.

Kiss Mine has faced more demanding tasks during what clearly has been a breakout year. Kiss Mine was assigned post 12 for the $50,000 My Charmer Stakes on Saturday at Turfway Park, but if the 4-year-old filly runs like she has been, the difficult post just might not matter.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. − The Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial and the return of the Tom Fool and Jerome highlight Aqueduct’s 2011 winter/spring stakes schedule, released Thursday by the New York Racing Association.

Aqueduct will offer 29 stakes worth $3.59 million over 80 days of racing from Jan. 1 through April 23.

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – Freaky has been the dominant older horse in Quarter Horse racing for the last 18 months, but even his trainer, Adan Farias, wonders if that status is under threat in Saturday’s $750,000 Champion of Champions at Los Alamitos.

MIAMI – Mambo Meister will attempt to cap off a second straight outstanding season with another graded stakes win when he carries high weight of 120 pounds in Saturday’s Grade 3 Fred Hooper Handicap at Calder.

Mambo Meister won 3 of 10 starts, earned $229,000, and ran credibly in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2009. He has been even a little better this year, having won 2 of 9 tries, with both victories coming in Grade 3 races here earlier in the campaign. A win in the nine-furlong Hooper would push his 2010 earnings over the $300,000 mark.

If this is, as the song says, “the most wonderful time of the year,” then that sentiment is particularly true for trainers with improving 2-year-olds. Eight 2-year-olds will be trying to provide a wonderful time for their connections Saturday in the $75,000 Gold Rush at one mile at Golden Gate Fields.

The field ranges from Luckarack, who has won two stakes and picked up checks in two others, to King Cola, who has finished second or third in his three stakes attempts, to Eddie Coddana, who graduated for a $20,000 claiming price in his last start.

Trainer Richard Small is no stranger to sending out 2-year-olds on short rest for a late-season stakes at Laurel Park. For the third time in the last five years, Small will saddle a runner coming back in less than two weeks when he sends out the unbeaten Side by Side in Saturday’s $50,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship, a 7 1/2-furlong race restricted to Maryland-breds.