BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - Careless Jewel, whose exploits during her 3-year-old season were overshadowed by divisional champion and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, is moving closer to her 4-year-old debut.

In her most serious move of the winter, Careless Jewel drilled five furlongs in 1:00.60 Friday morning at Palm Meadows, the fastest of 12 workouts at the distance. Palm Meadows clockers timed her first quarter in 24.20 seconds and three-eighths in 36.20, meaning she came home in 24.40. Careless Jewel galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.20 and pulled up seven furlongs in 1:27.20.

Besides the Lane's End, Turfway will run five other stakes on its Saturday card, topped by the Grade 3, $125,000 Bourbonette Oaks and the $100,000 Rushaway Stakes.

Among the top names for the Bourbonette, a one-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, are Midway Holiday, Helen Belen, Absinthe Minded, and Lisa's Kitten. The 1 1/16-mile Rushaway is expected to get Instant Message, Activity Report, Lonesome Street, among a handful of other 3-year-olds, according to Turfway stakes coordinator Tia Murphy.

And you thought Todd Pletcher only had six horses that might run in the Kentucky Derby. Well, the list of hopefuls goes a little deeper than the 20 named on the latest Derby Watch in Daily Racing Form, where Pletcher accounts for 30 percent of that total with Eskendereya, Rule, Super Saver, Discreetly Mine, Aikenite, and Interactif.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Sitting on 3,998 wins heading into the day, Ramon Dominguez wasted no time getting his 4,000th career victory, sweeping the first three races to reach and then surpass the milestone.

In reaching 4,000 wins, the 33-year-old Dominguez showcased his versatility and positional acumen.

Dominguez stole the opener in broad daylight with Persian Honey ($6), a 6-year-old mare he put on a clear lead through a dawdling first quarter for his 3,999th win.

WHO'S HOT - ZENYATTA

Zenyatta, still unbeaten after 15 starts, carried the week at Santa Anita. Her last-to-first victory in four months earlier.

The layoff was on the mind of jockey Mike Smith. "This was her first race back, and I wanted to make it as easy as possible," he said. Instead of rallying wide while conceding 11 to 16 pounds to her rivals, Smith elected to save ground on the far turn and into the stretch. He took the shortest way home.

THE DIRT ON BAFFERT

Southern California stakes horses trained by Bob Baffert are diggin' the dirt in Arkansas. Lookin At Lucky gave Baffert a 3-for-3 record in stakes this meet at Oaklawn when he overcame trouble to win last weekend's . And like stablemates Conveyance and Freedom Star, who won stakes in late February and early March, his first dirt start resulted in a significant Beyer Speed Figure.

Lookin At Lucky earned a career-best 97 for his Rebel win, which came in his first start since December. Conveyance took the at Oaklawn on March 6.

WHO'S HOT

Mike Hushion

With a stable of horses who roared like lions coming into March, Hushion, 61, is arguably having his best winter meet since he won the inner-dirt title in 1992-93.

During a stretch of 10 racing days from Feb. 28 through Mar. 14, 13 Hushion-trained runners went on a 7-3-0 tear, a streak that began when Lights Off Annie ($15.60) wired the for the second straight year.

OPELOUSAS, La. - A total of 154 juveniles are slated to pass through the sales ring Sunday in the John Franks Memorial 2-year-olds in training sale at Evangeline Downs. The event will get under way at 10oa.m. in Evangeline's new event center adjacent to the track's outdoor paddock. There is a preview gallop show scheduled for noon on Saturday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Dry Martini, the multiple graded stakes-winning gelding who finished second in the Donn Handicap last month, has had a chip taken out of an ankle and will be out until the summer.

Dry Martini had the chip taken out on March 8 and is recuperating on a farm in Ocala. The gelding, whose most significant victory came in last year's Grade 2 Suburban Handicap, will need to walk for at least a month before resuming light training.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The connections of Rule said they were pretty much set on running their multiple stakes-winning 3-year-old in Saturday's $750,000 Florida Derby and would have done so even if Eskendereya was in the race.

But a meeting with Eskendereya will not come until the May 1 Kentucky Derby after it was announced Tuesday afternoon by owner Ahmed Zayat that Eskendereya, the 8 1/2-length winner of the Fountain of Youth, would bypass the Florida Derby and instead run in the $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3.