NEW ORLEANS - Love to Tell stole the $125,000 Bayou Handicap at Fair Grounds on Saturday, wiring the field while setting ultra-slow fractions in the 1 1/8-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Jockey Justin Shepherd took hold of Love to Tell coming out of the gate, piloting her through the first half-mile in 54.73 seconds while still two lengths clear of the field. She maintained her advantage into the stretch, where she still had plenty left to go the last furlong in 11.37 and win by 2 1/4 lengths.

Rachel Alexandra, one of the top 3-year-old fillies in the nation, will make her next start in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks on March 14, her trainer, Hal Wiggins, said Saturday. She won her 3-year-old debut at Oaklawn on Feb. 15, coasting by eight lengths in the $50,000 Martha Washington. Rachel Alexandra earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.

She galloped back for the first time this morning and galloped fine, nice and relaxed, said Wiggins, who trains Rachel Alexandra for the partnership of Dolph Morrison and Mike Lauffer.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Home-field advantage for horses that train and race over this somewhat tiring surface often plays a critical role in the crucial stages of races here, and having a jockey who knows the surface and how to ride over it can also be a big advantage.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - This Ones for Phil and Notonthesamepage, the two fastest 3-year-olds in the country according to the Beyer Speed Figures, were a contrast in styles when turning in their final preps for their much-anticipated confrontation in Saturday's $250,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. Neither distance, nor delay, nor lack of pace could stay Weathered from her appointed visit with the Aqueduct winner s circle in Saturday s $70,695 Rare Treat Stakes at Aqueduct.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Now that's more like it.

After barely shading 1:05 for five furlongs in a workout here last Sunday, Beethoven looked more like the horse who won the Gradeo2 Kentucky Jockey Club in his 2-year-old finale when he came right back and breezed the same distance in 1:01.65 on Friday morning.

Penn National Race Course has doubled the purse for its oldest and most prestigious stakes as part of a beefed-up open stakes schedule for 2009.

The Pennsylvania Governor's Cup Handicap, a five-furlong grass race that will be contested for the 37th time on Aug. 1, will now be worth $200,000.

The track also boosted the purse of the Jenny Wade Handicap, a five-furlong turf sprint for fillies and mares on July 31, by $40,000 to $100,000 and added three new six-furlong stakes.

One Caroline finally had to work a bit to get the job done, but in the end the result was the same. It was the fourth straight victory for the undefeated filly, who fought off Swift Temper before posting a one-length decision in Friday's $100,000 Sabin at Gulfstream Park.

After leaving the one-mile chute in the Grade 3 Sabin, One Caroline was in front early as expected but was taken back and angled out near the middle of the track by jockey Edgar Prado.

Thirty-five stakes worth $2,015,000 will be run during the upcoming 91-day Emerald Downs meeting in Auburn, Wash., which runs from April 17 through Sept. 27.

The 74th running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Longacres Mile on Aug. 16 highlights the stakes schedule. The only graded stakes in the Northwest, it annually attracts many of the West Coast's top milers. It will be a Win and You're In race for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile for the second straight year. Locally based Wasserman won the Mile last year.

ARCADIA, Calif. - In the hands of just about anyone else, Rail Trip would have been on the fast track to the Santa Anita Handicap following another comfortable allowance win Friday at Santa Anita. But as easy as this most recent win was, his fourth without a defeat, trainer Ron Ellis and co-owner Samantha Siegel face something far more difficult now, the decision on whether to come back in just 15 days for the Santa Anita Handicap. They seemed inclined to pass.