Red Lead is one of several sharp older horses who will meet Saturday night in the $100,000 Maxxam Gold Cup at Sam Houston Race Park. The 1 1/8-mile handicap is the richest dirt race of the meet and will share a card with the $50,000 Sam Houston Distaff, led by Bubbler.

Entries for both races were taken Wednesday.

Red Lead is seeking his second straight stakes win. He rolled home by two lengths last month in the $50,000 Curribot at his Sunland Park base. For the Maxxam, Red Lead, who has natural speed, drew post 9 in a field of 10.

A plausible assumption is that the winner of the Lane's End Stakes on Saturday will run back five weeks later in the Kentucky Derby as the $500,000 purse and Grade 2 ranking virtually assure the winner a spot in the 20-horse field.

Another plausible assumption is that Connemara will win the Turfway Park showcase as a solid favorite, giving Todd Pletcher yet another bullet in his Derby holster.

Putting the two assumptions together, however, might be a bit premature.

A Republican State Senator representing Brooklyn, N.Y., has introduced legislation that would alter the process by which the state government selects an operator for a long-stalled casino at Aqueduct racetrack in Queens, N.Y.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The third and final pool of the 2010 Kentucky Derby Future Wager kicks off Friday at noon Eastern amid a bit of awkward timing. In most prior years Churchill Downs would have waited until next weekend for Pool 3, but with the way the calendar falls, the track felt the best option was this weekend.

"With this being a very early Derby (May 1), we made a conscious effort to try to get this pool out ahead of things, to kind of emphasize the 'future' aspect of the futures," said Churchill spokesman John Asher.

Rachel Alexandra worked a half-mile in 50.40 seconds Monday morning at Fair Grounds, her first workout since her 2010 debut, a second-place finish to Zardana in the New Orleans Ladies on March 13.

Oaklawn Park's announcer, Terry Wallace, is scheduled to reach a significant milestone as of Thursday's third race, according to track historians. The claiming sprint will be his 20,000th consecutive race call at Oaklawn as he has not missed announcing a single race at the track since he came on board in 1975. Wallace got his start as an announcer in 1968, when he was a substitute for Chic Anderson at Latonia.

The Oracle of Delphi did not need to be called. Nor was tea-leaf reading or an analysis of the signs of the zodiac necessary. No, divining the likely outcome of the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 20 after less than 25 percent of the race had been run required only a glance at the opening quarter-mile fraction: 24.60 seconds.

"After the opening quarter, I knew I was going to lose the race, and that's the worst feeling in the world when you're excited about a race," trainer Tom Amoss said.

Craig Fravel, the executive vice president of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in La Jolla, Calif., has been promoted to president and general manager, taking over two of the titles previously held by Joe Harper, who will remain the not-for-profit company's chief executive officer, according to Del Mar.

In addition, Michael R. Ernst will now hold the titles of executive vice president for finance and chief financial officer, while Thomas S. Robbins will be the track's executive vice president for racing and industry relations and the track's racing secretary.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Once every two decades or so, a horse comes along who so dominates the long-distance turf division at Santa Anita that he sweeps the San Luis Obispo and San Luis Rey handicaps, both at 1 1/2 miles, and then the San Juan Capistrano Invitational Handicap at about 1 3/4 miles.

Astray did it in 1974, Kotashaan - who would go on to be Horse of the Year - did it in 1993, and now Bourbon Bay is one step away. He added . Only the battle for San Juan hill on closing day, April 18, stands between Bourbon Bay and a sweep.

Although trainers Chuck Jenda and Roger Hansen will be checking condition books for races, the Sam Whiting early this summer at Pleasanton - the next sprint stakes in Northern California - is definitely on their radar.

The Jenda-trained Live Sundays ran a smasher in an allowance race Sunday, catching Hansen's comebacking Tribesman in the lane and winning a six-furlong race in 1:09.06, the fastest time of the meet.