It took Steve Margolis about 15 years to climb the ladder from groom to head trainer, and it has been 10 years since Margolis left his job as trainer Stanley Hough's assistant to become a head trainer. So, 25 years after first putting down roots in the racing game, Margolis's career is blooming.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is hoping to get his meet off to a fast start on Saturday when he sends out Past the Point in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector and brings back world traveler Elusive Warning from an 18-month vacation in the $75,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint.

Awesome Ashley, runner-up to Distorted Passion in the Interborough Stakes on New Year's Day, has been retired from racing, trainer Todd Pletcher said Wednesday.

Awesome Ashley, a daughter of Unbridled's Song, won 6 of 27 starts and banked $303,260 for owner Alex Campbell. She won three stakes - all over Aqueduct's inner track - including the Garland of Roses last month.

Distorted Passion, who finished third in the Garland of Roses before winning the Interborough, will be sold at the January horses of all ages sale on Jan. 11.

Trainer John Parisella had planned to run She'll Be Doggone in the Busanda, but the debut-winning filly suffered an injury to her left foreleg in a stall accident.

According to Parisella, She'll Be Doggone was spooked by something and she kicked, and broke, her water bucket.

"I can't X-ray it till the swelling comes down,'' Parisella said. "I'm disappointed. I just want to make sure she's okay.''

She'll Be Doggone, a daughter of Gone West, won her debut by a neck over Aqueduct's main track in November.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Fuzzy Britches began the week with a victory in a starter allowance Wednesday at Aqueduct. Her connections hope she ends the week here with a victory in the $65,000 Busanda Stakes.

Even before she rallied to win Wednesday's race by 2 3/4 lengths, Fuzzy Britches had been entered in Saturday's Busanda for 3-year-old fillies at a mile and 70 yards. Though Fuzzy Britches had to work harder than your normal 1-4 shot should to get Wednesday's victory, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said he plans to run her back.

Ready's Echo, the runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile here in November, was not entered for Saturday's $150,000 San Pasqual Handicap because of a "jammed ankle," according to trainer Todd Pletcher's assistant, Michael McCarthy.

McCarthy said an assessment of Ready's Echo's condition will be made this week. Owned by Let's Go Stable, Ready's Echo, 5, has won 2 of 14 starts and $517,988. He has not won a stakes, but placed in four consecutive graded stakes from August through November.

Jockey David Flores has parted with agent Ron Anderson and will begin booking his own mounts next week.

Flores decided on Wednesday to part with Anderson when the first condition book for the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting is completed on Sunday. The second book, which lists the proposed races and conditions for the next three weeks of racing, starts on Wednesday.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Usual Q.T., the winner of six consecutive races in the second half of 2009, will switch surfaces for his next start, in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Classic at Santa Anita, trainer Jim Cassidy said on Wednesday.

The Sunshine Millions Classic, for California-breds and Florida-breds, will be run over 1 1/8 miles on the synthetic main track at Santa Anita on Jan. 30.

Cassidy said the race appeals to him more than shipping The Usual Q.T. to Florida for the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Turf on the same day at Gulfstream Park.

John Locke, who experienced the best year of his racing career in 2009, said he is taking a break from training. Horses that had been in his care began racing for trainer Karl Broberg on Jan. 1, at both Sam Houston Race Park and Delta.

"I'm taking some time off and Karl Broberg is taking over for me," Locke said.

Locke, 67, has kept an interest in one horse, the stakes-placed Perfect Lou, who won an allowance route at Delta on Dec. 30. He said he owns the horse with Broberg and that he is being pointed for the $60,000 Triple Sec at Delta Downs on Jan. 15.

Jockey Diego Saenz and trainer Keith Bourgeois have not only dominated their divisions this meet at Delta Downs, but both Louisiana-based men are coming off career years in which they made a significant dent in the national standings. Saenz was the ninth-winningest jockey in North America in 2009 with 249 victories, while Bourgeois was the 10th-leading trainer by wins, with 192.

"I look back and see the year, and it was probably the best year I've had," said Bourgeois, whose stable is split between Delta and the Evangeline Downs Training Center in Lafayette.