Too many sprinters, not enough stakes. That’s the issue – a pleasant enough one – confronting trainer Steve Margolis after the one-two finish of Due Date and Early Return in the Bonapaw Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Due Date ran especially well winning the Bonapaw, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint, by 2 1/2 lengths. Due Date performs far better on turf than any other surface, and his immediate target is pretty clear: the Feb. 19 Colonel Power Stakes, the next (and last) open turf-sprint stakes for older males on the Fair Grounds stakes schedule.

Tis the season of giving, and Fair Grounds, hosting a rare Wednesday card, has offered up to horseplayers its strongest weekday program so far this 2010-11 racing season. The 10-race card kicks off with an open maiden special weight, includes a fairly appealing Louisiana-bred turf starter allowance, a Louisiana-bred entry-level allowance, and, better still, an open second-level turf-sprint allowance. Even then, the stocking isn’t stuffed: Featured is race 7, a high-end turf-route allowance also open to $80,000 claimers.

MIAMI – Two of the top horses stabled on the grounds, the speedy 2-year-old Manicero and Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Big Drama, put in fast and very impressive works within five minutes of one another on a clear but chilly Monday morning at Calder.

Santa Anita opened its rain-deluged main track for training Monday for the first time since Friday, but track president George Haines said severe rainstorms expected through Wednesday could curtail training this week. The winter-spring meet opens Sunday.

Temporary cones were placed midway across the track to protect the inside of the surface Monday, and the track was open for jogging and galloping. There were three recorded works on the main track, which was listed as muddy.

The Grade 3, $1 million Charles Town Classic, the first graded stakes in the 77-year history of the Charles Town Races, heads a lineup of 29 stakes worth $3 million in 2011.

The West Virginia track released nearly all of its stakes schedule for next season on Monday, with the focus on four event-themed nights between April and October, culminating with the 25th running of the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic program. The Breeders’ Classic card is penciled in for Oct. 15, but the races and purses will not be announced until later.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Hollywood Park’s seven-week fall meeting ended on Sunday with a decline in average ontrack and all-sources mutuel handle, and ontrack attendance, according to figures released by the racetrack.

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Gerald Bennett’s stable had a bit of an off meeting here at Tampa Bay Downs last season, but he wasted little time letting the competition and bettors know his barn will be a force this season as he sent out four winners through last Saturday’s program to take the early lead in the trainer standings.

Jockey Martin Garcia, who has not ridden since November 7 because of visa problems, remains in Mexico and is unlikely to return to California from his native Mexico in time for opening day on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita.

As of Sunday, it was unclear how long Garcia would be away from California.

“We have no idea,” according to his agent, Jim Pegram. “I’m just waiting for him to get back here.”

Tweebster and Sinai, the winners of an optional claimer and a maiden race for trainer Bob Baffert on Saturday at Hollywood Park, are bound for stakes in early January at Santa Anita.

Tweebster stretched his winning streak to three races with a victory in a race over 1 1/16 miles by 3 3/4 lengths. Baffert said that Tweebster will be pointed for the $150,000 San Fernando Stakes over 1 1/16 miles for 4-year-olds on Jan. 15.

Santa Anita’s main track was closed for training for the second consecutive day on Sunday, with the likelihood of further days of cancellations early in the week because of continued wet weather, track president George Haines said.

From early Friday to midday Sunday, the track had sustained four inches of rain, with at least three inches, and possibly more, expected from Pacific storms through Wednesday, he said.