Gio Ponti, a two-time Eclipse Award winner in 2009, will make his much anticipated 2010 debut, as expected, in Saturday's $150,000 Tampa Bay Breeders' Cup at Tampa Bay Downs. Trainer Christophe Clement is planning on using the race as a prep for the Dubai World Cup on March 27.

NEW ORLEANS - The plane from south Florida arrived Wednesday morning in New Orleans, and yes, two entrants for the Risen Star at Fair Grounds were on it.

The connections of both Drosselmeyer and Tempted to Tapit had left the door open to staying home for Saturday's Fountain of Youth Stakes, but both colts in the end shipped for the Risen Star.

NEW ORLEANS - Say "Louisiana-bred," and it's no trouble conjuring a vision of maiden-claimers running five furlongs at Delta Downs. But greenhorn owners Keith and Ginger Myers and trainer Glenn Delahoussaye, have another idea.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Lentenor's bid to secure a spot on the Kentucky Derby trail took a slight detour on Wednesday when he suffered a half-length setback at the hands of Doubles Partner in the featured eighth race at Gulfstream Park.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Conveyance led the charge of six Southwest hopefuls who worked at Oaklawn on Wednesday, when he breezed a half-mile in 48.40 seconds in hand. Jockey Calvin Borel was aboard, with Martin Garcia to ride Conveyance in Saturday's rescheduled Southwest, said the horse's trainer, Bob Baffert.

"Calvin did me a big favor by working him," Baffert said.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The San Luis Rey Downs training center in Bonsall, Calif., faces closure within a month after officials with the company that owns the facility notified trainers earlier this week that they do not intend to keep the facility open beyond March 15.

But a group of trainers at San Luis Rey Downs are working on a potential business plan with training center owner Magna International to preserve the year-round facility, according to trainer and facility manager Leigh Ann Howard.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Ramon Dominguez won the first five races at Aqueduct on Wednesday, but good fortune gave way to bad luck in his quest to equal and/or break the New York Racing Association record for most wins on a single card.

After winning the first five races on the card, Dominguez had a tough trip when third in the seventh race. In the eighth, Dominguez was aboard Liston, who stumbled out of the gate and then was bothered by a loose horse throughout the race. Dominguez finished last aboard Liston, the 4-5 favorite.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Bruce Levine, the trainer of Buddy's Saint, was letting the cold water from a hose cascade over the colt's right front ankle outside his Gulfstream Park barn on Wednesday morning. It was Levine, though, who seemed more in need of a being hosed down before Buddy's Saint runs in the Grade 2, $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes here on Saturday.

Asked if he was nervous, anxious, or excited, a tense Levine said, "That first word."

"I've got no backups, no one in the bullpen, no one sitting on deck,"

A Kentucky Oaks Day fund-raiser to benefit breast cancer awareness and research will be held for the second straight year when the filly classic is run April 30 for the 136th time at Churchill Downs, track officials announced Wednesday morning at a media conference at the Louisville, Ky., track.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A win, a second, and an incomplete. For trainer John Sadler, his weekend was pretty darn good, and sets the stage for better things to come.

Sadler has at least two promising 3-year-olds in Sidney's Candy and Dave in Dixie. The jury is still out on Domonation. Sidney's Candy, rebounding from a surprisingly flat try in his comeback race six weeks ago, added his name to the list of top Kentucky Derby contenders with an overpowering, 4 1/4-length in the on Monday at Santa Anita.