Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg will have a string of 16 horses this year at Thistledown.

With 6,395 winners, Van Berg, 73, is the second-winningest trainer in North American history, behind the late Dale Baird. In 1987 he became the first U.S. trainer to win 5,000 career races. In 1976, he saddled 496 winners, a record that stood for 28 years before being broken by Steve Asmussen, who sent out 555 horses to win in 2004. Van Berg's best horse was Alysheba, the 1988 Horse of the Year who earned more than $6.6 million.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Rule, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, will break from post 7 in a field of 11 3-year-olds entered for Saturday's $750,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

Rule, the only graded stakes winner in the field, will be ridden by jockey John Velazquez.

"It's a good post for him," Velazquez said after the draw. "He should be able to get good position from there. He'll be forwardly placed but doesn't necessarily have to be on the lead."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The complexion of Saturday's Grade 1 Florida Derby took a dramatic turn late Tuesday afternoon when owner Ahmed Zayat said that Fountain of Youth winner Eskendereya would not run in the race and instead would be pointed to the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 3.

Todd Pletcher, trainer of Eskendereya, will still be represented in the Florida Derby with Rule, the winner of four straight races including the Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. John Velazquez will ride Rule in the Florida Derby and Eskendereya in the Wood.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Following her 2 1/2-length victory in the Wayward Lass Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 27, Don't Forget Gil was being considered for the Apple Blossom Invitational at Oaklawn Park on April 9. But when the purse of that race reverted back to $500,000 from the $5 million it would have been had Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta both run - and with Zenyatta looking every bit the two-time undefeated champion she is - the decision was made to keep Don't Forget Gil in Florida for Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Rampart Handicap.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A head bob may be the difference between how First Dude is perceived coming into the Florida Derby.

Had First Dude prevailed by a head over Fly Down in a first-level allowance race here Feb. 21, he would be riding a two-race winning streak into the Florida Derby, with both wins coming over Gulfstream Park's main track. Having lost the race, however, he will be one of a handful of horses with simply a maiden win on their resume.

Tidal Pool worked five furlongs in 58.80 seconds here last Sunday as she continues her preparations for the Grade 2, $300,000 Fantasy on April 2. She established herself as one of the top 3-year-old fillies in training when she won an allowance route over older fillies and mares at Oaklawn, with a Beyer Figure of 102.

It is the top number in her division to date, while her work the other morning was the bullet. The second fastest five-eighths move on the tab was 1:00.20.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has his best 3-year-old crop in years wintering at Oaklawn Park, with top seeds Dublin and Tidal Pool training toward starts in next month's Arkansas Derby and Fantasy Stakes. The barn will also be active in 3-year-old stakes on March 27, with a trio of promising young horses headed to Turfway Park.

Lukas said he plans to send Northern Giant to the Kentucky track for the Grade 2, $500,000 Lane's End; Activity Report for the $100,000 Rushaway; and Absinthe Minded for the Grade 3, $125,000 Bourbonette.

Aside from boosting its overnight purses to projected record levels, Monmouth Park also will increase the gross payout in New Jersey stakes purses in 2010, officials at the Oceanport, N.J., track announced Tuesday.

Monmouth will disperse $12.1 million in purses for its 90 stakes, up from the $10.54 million paid out in 2009 at Monmouth and Meadowlands. That jump is not nearly as dramatic as in the overnight schedule - Monmouth set American racing abuzz last week when announcing that per-day purses, including stakes, will average about $1 million from May 22 through Sept. 6.

Two of Pimlico's most prestigious and richest stakes races will not be contested this spring.

In a news release Tuesday, the Maryland Jockey Club announced the Grade 1 Pimlico Special and the Grade 2 Allaire duPont Distaff have been put on hiatus due to a purse shortage.

The Pimlico Special, first contested in 1937, has been suspended four times in the last nine years, including last season.

:: STAKES SCHEDULE: (PDF)

Jockey Francisco Duran's 1,000th career riding victory wasn't the only milestone when Karmalize scored a wire-to-wire maiden victory in a photo over The Hunt Is On and Saravas Wild Again last Friday at Golden Gate Fields.

The win also was the second of trainer Andy Wilson's career and first since Dec. 12, 1978.

The 32-year-old Duran got a late start in racing, beginning his riding career in 2001. In 2002, he was a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation's leading apprentice rider.