WHO'S HOT

Joe Bravo's still got it. A 13-time leading rider at Monmouth Park, he was again atop the standings here after seven wins last week. Bravo had 26 wins at the meet, eight more than Paco Lopez, who was in second. Garrett Gomez is heating up, having won four races in two days, including the two stakes Saturday. Eddie Castro won three of the last four races Sunday and had 12 wins at the meet after a 4-for-70 start.

WHO'S HOT

Huge week for jockey Joel Rosario. While Rafael Bejarano held a comfortable lead in the jockeys standing before serving a five-day suspension, Rosario and Tyler Baze closed the gap, and Rosario's hat trick Wednesday, June 23, brought him even closer. Two more wins the following day helped, too, though Bejarano and Baze also booted home a winner.

Rosario continued his surge Friday evening, posting another hat trick. Bejarano slowed Rosario's charge a bit with a winner.

REFLECTIONS

With the Churchill Downs meet concluding Sunday, here are some reflections:

* Due credit to those who played Super Saver to win the Derby - I didn't - but he has to rank as one of the most forgettable Derby winners in recent memory.

WHO'S HOT

Despite losing his five-pound apprentice allowance Sunday, leading rider Luis Saez continues to dominate. Saez opened a commanding lead atop the standings after posting eight more winners last week. Nobody else in the local room won more than three times; veterans Sebastian Madrid and Pedro Monterrey Jr. were among those who won three last week. Madrid and Monterrey got off to slow starts early in the session but have picked up momentum.

WHO'S HOT

Jimmy Toner

Toner, who saddled his first winner at Aqueduct a half-century ago, turns the big 7-0 next week, and the Philadelphia native still has a few tricks up his sleeve, judging from a 6-2-1 record from 14 starters at the current meet.

Zifzaf ($37.60) won a first-level turf allowance off a 10-month layoff to get things rolling in early May and returned last Friday, June 25, to take his second-level condition.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hotep, one of three Sam-Son Farm entrants trained by Mark Frostad, has been made the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Sunday's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine.

A field of 13 was announced at the annual Queen's Plate breakfast here Thursday morning, with the connections of each entrant first drawing for their order of selection and then choosing a post position.

Frostad, with the eighth pick, chose post 11 for Hotep in the 1 1/4-mile showpiece for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds and will have regular rider Patrick Husbands aboard.

Mister Marti Gras, a 19-1 shot, came from off the early pace to win the $200,000 Oliver at Indiana Downs Wednesday evening.

Jockey Eduardo Perez got the 3-year-old chestnut gelding to settle near the back of the 12-horse field early in the one-mile turf event, but never more than 5 1/2 lengths off the lead. Mister Marti Gras angled out and rallied into the stretch, wearing down the leaders and winning by a half-length.

Presious Passion is on vacation.

The winner of the last two runnings of the Grade 1 United Nations Stakes will not defend his title on Saturday at Monmouth Park, and trainer Mary Hartmann said the 7-year-old gelding is getting a freshening at a private farm in nearby Colts Neck, N.J.

Presious Passion did not run well in his last two races, finishing 16th in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 27 and seventh in the Monmouth Stakes on June 12.

"Physically, he's fine," Hartmann said. "He just didn't seem to be on his game. I wouldn't send him out and embarrass him."

OCEANPORT, N.J. - There will be no three-peat for Presious Passion in the United Nation Stakes on Saturday at Monmouth Park. The winner of the last two editions of the Grade 1 stakes was not entered on Wednesday for the 1 3/8-mile race on the turf.

Presious Passion had not run well in his last two outings, finishing 16th in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 27 and seventh in the Monmouth Stakes on June 12. Attempts to reach trainer Mary Hartmann were not successful.

Joel Rosario will ride City to City and will have the mount on Blind Luck for her next two starts, the trainer said. Blind Luck is being pointed to the $250,000 Delaware Oaks at Delaware Park on July 10, followed by the $500,000 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 21.

Blind Luck's regular rider, Rafael Bejarano, is booked to ride Rail Trip in the Hollywood Gold Cup on July 10 and the Hollendorfer-trained Tuscan Evening in the $750,000 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park on Aug. 21.