Sir Silver Fox established himself as a viable candidate for next month's $100,000 Webb Snyder Stakes at Charles Town by winning a 4 1/2-furlong optional claiming race with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure last Saturday night.

The Webb Snyder, named in honor of the 96-year-old former jockey who rode at Charles Town's inaugural meet as a 20-year-old in 1933, will be contested at 4 1/2 furlongs and is among three supporting six-figure stakes on the April 18 card headed by the inaugural running of the Charles Town Classic.

Kelly Leak was one of the top 2-year-olds in Southern California last year, but rather than point him for the Kentucky Derby his connections are taking a more conservative approach and hitting the road for Sunday's $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.

Kelly Leak is eligible for a $100,000 bonus if he wins, because he accumulated graded earnings last year in the Grade 2 Best Pal at Del Mar. He will be making his first start beyond a mile in the 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby, which heads a five-stakes card worth more than $1.4 million at the New Mexico track.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - On Monday morning, trainer John Ward was singing the praises of Beethoven and looking forward to running his latest 3-year-old star in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. A little more than 24 hours later, Ward's dreams of winning a second Kentucky Derby were all but gone after Beethoven came down with a minor injury that will force him to miss Saturday's important Derby prep.

Ward, who won the 2001 Kentucky Derby with Monarchos, said he discovered something was amiss with Beethoven when he returned to his barn to check his horses Tuesday evening.

Blues Girl Too is the career-defining horse for trainer Joe Bassett. This year, he has a pair of half-siblings to Blues Girl Too, and their promise has Bassett excited about the upcoming futurity season.

Blues Girl Too won the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2006 and the $1 million Champion of Champions in 2007 to become the all-time richest female in Quarter Horse racing. She retired in early 2008 with earnings of $2,032,328. Bassett, 25, trained Blues Girl Too with an assist from his father, John.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A field of nine - eight horses and one rabbit - was drawn Wednesday for Saturday's $750,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Todd Pletcher entered two horses for 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby - his highly regarded Kentucky Derby prospect Dunkirk, and Europe, a maiden with only one start who was entered as a possible pacesetter. Both Dunkirk and Europe are owned by Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla.-Beethoven will not start as planned in Saturday's $750,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park because of a slight tendon injury, trainer John Ward said Wednesday.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Monarchos was still a maiden when he arrived in south Florida during the winter of 2001. He would ultimately go on to win three straight races at Gulfstream Park, including the Grade 1 Florida Derby as a prelude to equaling the stakes record in the Kentucky Derby later that spring.

Eight years later, trainer John Ward will try to win the Kentucky Derby again. This time, it's with Beethoven, a horse who so far very little resembles Monarchos.

Victor Lebron, the leading rider at the current Turfway Park winter-spring meet, will be out about six months after sustaining two fractured bones and tissue damage in his right ankle in a spill on the Lane's End Stakes undercard Saturday at the Florence, Ky., track.

Lebron, 24, was injured when his mount in the third race suddenly ducked inward soon after the start, throwing him. Following consultations Monday and Tuesday with orthopedic specialist Dr. Ray Shea in Louisville, Lebron was informed of the diagnosis.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The presence of both Pioneerof the Nile and The Pamplemousse in the Grade 1, $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 4 is causing trainer Todd Pletcher to re-route Take the Points to the Grade 1, $750,000 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 11.

Take the Points most recently finished a distant second to The Pamplemousse in the Sham Stakes.

Pletcher on Tuesday said Take the Points, who is currently training at Santa Anita, could jump back into the Santa Anita Derby picture "if there is a defection or two." Barring that, though, he's off to Keeneland.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Papa Clem got his first real feel for the Oaklawn Park surface on Tuesday morning, when he breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 in preparation for the Grade 2, $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 11. The horse arrived here last week from Fair Grounds, where he was second to Friesan Fire in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 14.

"It was just perfect," trainer Gary Stute said of the work from Papa Clem. "The main thing was just to get him used to the track, and next week we'll probably go seven-eighths."