HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Pretty Birdie put up the year’s highest Beyer Speed Figure for a 3-year-old filly on Saturday, when she earned a 95 for her victory in the $150,000 Purple Martin at Oaklawn Park.

Pretty Birdie set the pace and went on to cover six furlongs in 1:09.01. She won by 2 3/4 lengths in what was her second stakes victory behind last year’s Grade 3 Schuylerville at Saratoga.

“She came back very well,” trainer Norm Casse said Monday. “We’re going to aim for the Eight Belles on Oaks Day at Churchill.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $1 million Florida Derby got a little more interesting over the weekend when trainer Brian Lynch confirmed he will redirect Tampa Bay Derby winner Classic Causeway to the Grade 1 fixture on Saturday rather than await the Blue Grass at Keeneland the following week as originally planned.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kathleen O., undefeated winner of the Grade 2 Davona Dale, heads what is expected to be a short field in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks, the richest of nine stakes on the undercard of the $1 million Florida Derby.

The Gulfstream Oaks, at 1 1/16 miles, will be the first start around two turns for Kathleen O., a daughter of Upstart.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Mark Casse doesn’t know what went wrong for Pappacap in last month’s Grade 2 Risen Star where the Grade 1 stakes-placed horse finished eighth, 14 1/4 lengths behind Epicenter. What Casse does know is to do what most trainers do in such instances when there’s no evident excuse – draw a line through the race and try again.

Thus, Casse will return Pappacap to the site of his first victory – Gulfstream Park – and run him in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, a last-ditch effort to make the Kentucky Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Like death and taxes, one of the certainties of our existence is that on the Monday preceding a Saturday stakes race, Steve Asmussen will work his horses an easy half-mile in something like 51 and change for their final tune-up. So on Monday morning, just after the renovation break at Oaklawn, his colt Chasing Time hit right on cue, a half-mile in 51.20 seconds under the supervision of assistant Darren Fleming while readying for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Call Me Jamal was an intended starter in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on Saturday, but he was not entered Sunday after emerging from a work earlier that morning with filling in a leg, trainer Mike Puhich said Monday at Oaklawn Park.

“He tweaked something,” Puhich said. “He’s never had a hiccup before.”

Call Me Jamal had worked six furlongs in 1:13.40. It was his third work since winning an allowance race here Feb. 26. He is 2 for 3 here this season. He won a maiden race Dec. 18, then was seventh in the Southwest Stakes Jan. 29.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Micro Share, the easy winner of a maiden special weight race for 3-year-old fillies on March 11, will miss the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks on April 9 because of illness.

“I don’t think she’ll make the race,” trainer Richard Mandella said Sunday. “She has an elevated temperature.”

Micro Share won a one-mile race by 4 1/2 lengths at 2-5 on March 11, in her third start.

ARCADIA, Calif. – An appreciative Joe Bravo, who began riding in Southern California last summer, was honored between races at Santa Anita on Sunday with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

The award is presented by the track through a vote of riders nationwide, reflecting success on the track and personal character.

Bravo, 50, was joined in the winner’s circle by many active riders at Santa Anita as well as retired jockeys Frank Olivares, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Don Pierce, past recipients of the Woolf award.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Queen Goddess has become a multiple graded-stakes winner in recent months with victories in races on dirt and turf. The key to success has been races at longer distances, which has left trainer Michael McCarthy curious if the 4-year-old filly can develop into a prospect for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf by the fall.

Saturday at Santa Anita, McCarthy watched Queen Goddess win her first stakes on turf in the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes at 1 1/4 miles.

“She’s on top of her game,” McCarthy said. “She seems to want the added furlongs.”

Following one of her best performances yet, Shifty She now will wait for the Grade 1 Just a Game on June 11 at Belmont Park, according to the connections of the speedy 6-year-old mare.

Shifty She was thoroughly dominant Sunday in the 19th annual Florida Cup series at Tampa Bay Downs, controlling the Distaff Turf from the outset in a four-length triumph. The Distaff Turf was one of six $110,000 stakes restricted to Florida-breds held amid ideal conditions at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.