A deal to open a casino at Aqueduct is dead again.

New York Gov. David Paterson said in a statement issued Thursday that the state's lottery "has concluded that it cannot issue a gaming license to Aqueduct Entertainment Group," the sprawling partnership whose selection in late January by state government leaders to operate the casino sparked criticism and controversy. As a result, the process of selecting the operator is going to be reopened, Paterson said, a development that will almost certainly add further delays to a process that has been ongoing for nearly nine years.

NEW ORLEANS - Regardless of how little she might be doing, it's always entertaining merely seeing the charismatic filly Rachel Alexandra go through her daily paces during morning training hours.

The trick Thursday at Fair Grounds was seeing her at all.

When Rachel left trainer Steve Asmussen's barn and headed out to the racetrack just before 7 on Thursday morning, Fair Grounds was enshrouded by fog so dense that the finish line could not be seen from the clockers stand at the half-mile pole.

NEW ORLEANS - As any handicapper knows by now, Daily Racing Form keeps detailed trainer statistics. First-time starters, claimers, blinkers on, so on and so forth. The shorthand for one category is +180 Days - that is, win percentage with horses returning from a layoff of a half-year or longer. Steve Asmussen bats .170 in +180 Days, a good, solid mark.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The high-profile numbers in Zenyatta's career are easy to remember - 14 wins, 2 championships, and 0 career losses.

To get there, Zenyatta has had 81 workouts over the last three years and nine months. And as brilliant as her races have been to her adoring fans, her workouts have left trainer John Shirreffs with the same impression. Since the first time she worked, Shirreffs says he has never walked away disappointed from one of Zenyatta's workouts.

"I can't remember that," Shirreffs said last weekend.

Rockingham Park in New Hampshire will not hold a live harness racing meet this year, the track announced on Wednesday, citing the state legislature's decision last year to rescind funding for the New Hampshire Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Game On Dude will enter the March 20 Florida Derby with only two starts under his belt, but what he lacks in experience, he more than makes up in talent, said his trainer, Michael Mareina.

Hollinger, undefeated in four starts and Canada's champion 2-year-old of 2009, has been made the 5-2 favorite in the annual Queen's Plate winter book.

The hypothetical exercise, compiled for the first time by Adam Hickman of Woodbine's media communications department, assigned odds to the 100 Canadian-bred 3-year-olds nominated to the $1 million Queen's Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race that will be run at Woodbine on July 4.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. Trainer Ken McPeek has brought Beautician from Florida to run this weekend at Oaklawn. The runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she will be removing blinkers Saturday for the Grade 3, $125,000 Honeybee. The 1 1/16-mile race is the local prep for the Grade 2, $300,000 Fantasy.

Beautician added blinkers for the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet at Hollywood Park in her last start Dec. 20 and finished seventh as the favorite.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Noble's Promise has raced exclusively on synthetic and turf surfaces to this point in his career, but there are reasons to believe that the Grade 1 winner might be an even better horse on dirt. More will be learned Saturday, when Noble's Promise runs in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - In addition to the recent spate of 50-degree-plus days, another sign that spring is on the horizon is when horses start shipping to New York from south Florida. Five of the eight 3-year-old fillies entered for Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Cicada Stakes at Aqueduct made their last start at Gulfstream Park.