\ARCADIA, Calif. - Polonius, who won his stakes debut in the one-mile Pasadena Stakes on turf on March 15, is likely to make his graded stakes and main-track debut in the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby on April 5, trainer Michael Pender said.

Pender, who gained his first stakes win in the Pasadena, said he was considering the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, and the Santa Anita Derby, and added, "I'd like to stay here at home."

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Linda Rice has been conspicuous by her absence at Gulfstream Park this winter, having started just seven horses at the meet. But the well-respected New York-based trainer figures to make her presence felt when she sends out Dicey D J among the key contenders in Monday’s $41,500 allowance feature for 3-year-old fillies on the turf.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Rollerskates proved unbeatable when she was allowed to set an easy lead in an optional claimer on turf earlier this month at Santa Anita. If she can win again in Monday’s fourth race at Santa Anita, an optional claimer, she will fulfill trainer Matt Chew’s expectations for her.

Along with her owners, Seymour Teichner and his family, Chew believes that Rollerskates will thrive over longer distances. Monday’s distance of 1 1/4 miles on turf equals the longest race in Rollerskates’s career.

OLDSMAR, Fla. - The folks on hand to watch last Tuesday's fourth race witnessed more than a few things that can go wrong in the course of a race.

For starters, Cathy's Clown became extremely agitated and fractious in the starting gate and delayed the start. Then, just a split second before the gates opened the filly tried to rear up, and she threw her head over the side of the starting gate bars, effectively eliminating herself. A split second later, when she did leave the gate, she managed to knock down one of the assistant starters.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The first stage of jockey Garrett Gomez's yearlong nationwide tour comes to end on April 3 when he moves from his winter base at Santa Anita to Keeneland for a month.

When he leaves California, Gomez is likely to be the leading rider at Santa Anita, a position he may hold only temporarily. Through Thursday, Gomez was second, trailing Rafael Bejarano 60-56, but he is likely to catch Bejarano since that rider is sidelined with a back injury until early April. The Santa Anita meeting ends on April 20.

The Hastings Conservancy, a citizens' group in British Columbia, has lost a court appeal it hoped would force the removal of slot machines at Hastings. The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the group's appeal of the provincial Supreme Court decision that allowed slots at Hastings.

The Conservancy lost its original suit, in which it claimed the city of Vancouver did not have the jurisdiction to pass zoning bylaws that allowed slots at Hastings. Thursday, a three-member panel upheld the Supreme Court ruling.

Gary Contessa broke his own record for wins by a trainer at an Aqueduct inner-track meet when he saddled three of the first four winners on Friday, giving him 73 for the winter session. In 2006-07, Contessa established the previous mark with 72 wins.

Contessa went on to win another race on Friday's card, marking the second time in three weeks that a trainer has won four races on an Aqueduct card. Bruce Levine won four on Feb. 29.

Contessa credited his owners, specifically Steve Sigler's Winning Move Stable.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Michael Matz has decided against following the same path that led Barbaro to his Kentucky Derby victory two years ago with his current Derby hopeful Visionaire.

Matz said Friday that Visionaire will not have his final Kentucky Derby prep in the $1 million Florida Derby on March 29, and that he's narrowed his choice to the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne on April 5 or the Blue Grass at Keeneland one week later. Barbaro won the 2006 Florida Derby as a final stepping-stone to his memorable victory five weeks later at Churchill Downs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Charmo's success has never truly equaled his potential. After winning the first stakes of his career in the Grade 2 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in 2006, Charmo has compiled a five-race losing streak.

Charmo resumes his career after a layoff of nearly 10 months in Saturday's $75,000 Joe Hernandez Stakes on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. Trainer Julio Canani is hopeful that the race, run over about 6 1/2 furlongs on turf, will end Charmo's losing streak and lead to a return to the San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields next month.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - It may only have been a second-level allowance race on a Thursday at Aqueduct, but Marina Market's victory felt like something else to trainer Gary Sciacca.

"Like winning the [Kentucky] Derby," Sciacca said after Marina Market's neck victory over No Reply in the $53,000 race. "What a great feeling. Brought tears to my eyes. Couldn't happen any better."