OCEANPORT, N.J. - Eddie Plesa Jr. is a member of the Calder Race Course Hall of Fame and still maintains a substantial stable at the south Florida track.

But after Calder has been hit with recent purse reductions and a reduced stakes program, Plesa will spend more time this summer at Monmouth Park.

Plesa has run a New Jersey division the past several seasons. This year, Plesa beefed up the Monmouth operation with 40 horses in the conveniently located barn that once housed D. Wayne Lukas's string.

CALGARY, Alberta – Ballintoy takes his next step on the Alberta Derby trail when he faces six other 3-year-olds in the one-mile Hoofprint on My Heart here Saturday.

Ballintoy shares high weight of 122 pounds with Star Prospector, whom he defeated by a half-length in the six-furlong President’s here May 3. After stalking the pacesetting Star Prospector down the backstretch, Ballintoy swung out turning for home under Stephan Heiler to wear down his rival in deep stretch. Star Prospector finished second but was disqualified for interfering with other horses on the first turn.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Trainer Troy Taylor admitted that he might have been taking a bit of a chance when he ran Peaceful Turzia in a $25,000 claiming race at Hastings on April 27. Peaceful Turzia easily won the race and Taylor brought him back to score an upset in the $50,000 Jim Coleman Province Stakes at six furlongs last Sunday.

Taylor had haltered Peaceful Turzia for Glen Todd and Patrick Kinsella out of a $25,000 claiming race at Golden Gate Fields in early January.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Last year, trainer Earl Barnett orchestrated a productive campaign for You Will Love Me that included a victory in the Lady Angela. This year, Barnett is hoping for similar success with Anne's Purse, who will make her second start in Saturday's $125,000 Lady Angela for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.

Monterey Jazz, eight-length winner of the Grade 3 Texas Mile on April 25, came out of a Wednesday workout at Hollywood Park with tightness in his hind end and will not run in Monday's Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park, trainer Craig Dollase said Thursday.

On Wednesday, Monterey Jazz worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 at Hollywood Park. He was expected to be flown from California to New York on Friday.

"Bad timing," Dollase said. "We're going to send him up to the clinic; we can't really pinpoint what it is. But we didn't feel right putting him on a plane."

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Going Ballistic is being pointed toward the Grade 3, $200,000 Dallas Turf Cup and highweight Medici Code will take a pass on the race, their respective connections said Wednesday. The Dallas Turf Cup is one of six stakes worth a cumulative $1.1 million at Lone Star Park on Monday.

NGLEWOOD, Calif. - Regardless of whether he wins or loses Monday's Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood Park, race favorite Ever a Friend will gain a vacation.

With an eye on the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting on Oct. 25, trainer Mike Mitchell said that Ever a Friend is unlikely to race this summer before resuming his career in the fall.

"I've got to give him some time," Mitchell said. "He hasn't had a break. He trains hard and every day he goes hard. You've got to try to keep a horse fresh."

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Kentucky Bear is settling in at Woodbine following his sixth-place finish in last Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico.

After enduring a trip that merited adjectives including "nightmarish" and "brutal," Kentucky Bear turned out to have an even greater problem that was not visible to the naked eye.

"He got a cut on his leg," said Reade Baker, who trains Kentucky Bear for owner Danny Dion.

"Someone stepped on his hind shoe and bent it down and in, over an inch. I don't know how he ran on that. I don't even know how he could walk on it."

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Besides racing, summer activities in the Arlington Park area can seem thin. Sure, a tour might be arranged of the Cook County Courthouse across the street. Three-quarters of a mile west of the courthouse, one could fish for carp in a little stream that runs through a suburban park.

Okay - the Louisiana-based trainer Keith Desormeaux did not open up a tiny Arlington Park string this summer for local entertainment value. No, Desormeaux came here to run Gangbuster on the Arlington Park grass course.

The summer Ruidoso Downs season starts on Friday afternoon with juveniles competing in the 12 trials to the Grade 1, $500,000 Ruidoso Futurity. Some of these 2-year-olds also may qualify for the closing-day Grade 1, $2 million All American Futurity.

Leading the hopefuls in the 350-yard Ruidoso Futurity trials are seven of the 10 finalists who raced in the Grade 1 West Texas Futurity at Sunland Park.