Royale Michele took advantage of a great trip and some misfortune for the odds-on favorite Seventh Street to record a 1 3/4-length upset victory in Saturday's Grade 2, $150,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park.

The speedy Seventh Street, the 4-5 favorite, leapt in the air at the start and was four lengths last out of the gate. Meanwhile, Royale Michele, under Geovany Garcia, settled into fifth position down the backside while By the Light set the pace stalked by Access Fee.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Johnny Eves, the winner of the Grade 2 Palos Verdes Handicap at Santa Anita last month, has been turned out until the summer at the earliest with a suspensory injury, trainer Jay Robbins said on Saturday.

Robbins said the injury was detected after a routine gallop last week, and it was confirmed by a scan test.

"He has a slight tear of the suspensory," Robbins said. "He did that galloping and it showed up the next morning. We'll give him four months and then we'll compare the scans."

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Jockey James Lopez won his first graded race since 2002 in Saturday's Sam F. Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. For Lopez, riding and winning on a regular basis is something he sorely missed when he spent almost two years away from racing.

Lopez, 31, admitted that was one of the toughest periods of his life.

After winning more than 600 races between 1999 and 2003 and averaging 128 winners per year, including winning 147 races in 2002, Lopez slumped due to time off from injuries and took off almost all of 2005, winning just six races that year, and all of 2006.

Considering that he frequently runs for a claiming tag, Groovy Luck is ultra-consistent whenever he runs on grass or a fast main track.

In 13 starts on those two surfaces, the 6-year-old Groovy Luck has been first or second 11 times, including a sterling 5-for-7 mark sprinting on the Fair Grounds turf course.

Mud, however, has been Groovy Luck's Achilles' heel, which makes him a suspect favorite in Monday's featured ninth race, a second-level optional $40,000 claimer.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - A better start led to a better finish for Dream Play in Saturday's $69,160 Dearly Precious Stakes at Aqueduct.

In a fourth-place finish in a first-level allowance race here last month, Dream Play broke flat-footed, raced in traffic, and finished fourth, beaten 2 3/4 lengths.

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. - Song of Navarone, a winner of 3 of his 4 races since returning from a life-threatening illness that sidelined him for a year and a half, ranks as the one to beat in Sunday's $50,000 Curribot Handicap at Sunland Park. A 5-year-old trained by Henry Dominguez, Song of Navarone will carry 124 pounds in the 1 1/16-mile headliner and will concede from four to nine pounds to his six rivals.

"He had a very serious stomach virus," Dominguez said earlier in the week. "He was off a long time and we almost lost him, but he seems to be back and as good as ever."

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Old Fashioned and Silver City, the top two choices Monday in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest at Oaklawn Park, have similar physical qualities and genetic influences as three of the last five winners of the Arkansas Derby. They are athletically built horses whose quickness of foot gives them great positioning power on the racetrack. And, their natural speed is derived from significant sprinter influences found close up in their pedigrees.

Lezcano notches 1,000th victory

By Mike Welsch

Jockey Jose Lezcano won the 1,000th race of his career when he rode Calabria to an easy victory in Friday's second race at Gulfstream Park.

Lezcano, 23, is currently in a battle for leading jockey honors at the meet. A native of Panama, he also won the first race of his career at Gulfstream, aboard Cloudy Gray in 2004.

Lezcano, a graduate of the Laffit Pincay Jockey School in Panama, has won riding titles at Tampa Bay Downs, the Meadowlands, and Monmouth Park.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - With only eight starters to this point of the inner-track meet, trainer Ben Perkins Jr. has been conspicuous by his absence. Things may be about to change for the New Jersey-based trainer, who has won with 22-percent of his starters here the last three winters.

Perkins will be in action Sunday at Aqueduct when he sends out Wildcat Brief in the $65,000 Fred "Cappy" Capossela Stakes for 3-year-old males and Uphill Wildcat, a first-time starter, in a six-furlong maiden race for 3-year-old fillies.

NEW ORLEANS - After five months on the sidelines, Flying Pegasus proved he can still compete in the big leagues, running a strong second in the Grade 3 Risen Star last weekend as he began his 3-year-old campaign.

Sent off at 10-1, Flying Pegasus broke from post 12 and raced wide the whole way - and was still good for second place, two lengths in back of the winner, Friesan Fire.

Headquartered at Fair Grounds, and now firmly in conversations regarding the best 3-year-olds at the track, Flying Pegasus is being pointed toward the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby on March 16.