ARCADIA, Calif. - Indian Blessing used raw speed to win five consecutive races including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. But her odds-on defeat racing two turns last weekend at Fair Grounds revealed distance limitations, and trainer Bob Baffert confirmed Tuesday that the champion 2-year-old filly of 2007 will skip the Kentucky Oaks and return for a summer-fall campaign in shorter races.

"I wasn't convinced [she wanted to run long]," Baffert said. "She's quiet, but when that gate comes open, she grabs that bit and goes. I'm going to freshen her up for summer and fall."

Tom Amoss is playing an angle. Knowing that the WinStar Derby is not a graded race - and therefore, by definition, not a major prep for the Kentucky Derby - the veteran trainer has sent Liberty Bull all the way from New Orleans for a $600,000 race to be run Sunday at Sunland Park in New Mexico.

STICKNEY, Ill. - A Dogwood Stable partnership won the Illinois Derby with Distilled in 2001, and Dogwood will give the race another shot this year with Blackberry Road, who finished fourth Saturday in the Louisiana Derby.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Sierra Sunset flew to Oaklawn Park from his Northern California base last month and turned in one of the best races of his career, finishing second to top Kentucky Derby candidate Denis of Cork in the Grade 3, $250,000 Southwest Stakes. Saturday, Sierra Sunset has reason to trump that performance in the Grade 2, $300,000 Rebel, the final local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby.

Larry Jones is in the process of relocating much of his Fair Grounds string to Kentucky, and among those slated to ship north to Keeneland on Monday is Proud Spell. She leaves after earning her connections a pretty trophy by winning the Fair Grounds Oaks last Saturday. In so doing she became the first horse to beat Indian Blessing, last year's champion 2-year-old filly.

Proud Spell, Jones said Tuesday morning, had exited her 2 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2, $400,000 race in great physical shape.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Two years after winning the Kentucky Derby with Barbaro, trainer Michael Matz looks poised to make another run for the roses. But unlike 2006 when he was extremely confident in Barbaro, Matz isn't quite sure how good a Derby prospect he has in Visionaire, the winner of Saturday's Grade 3 Gotham Stakes in the slop and fog of Aqueduct.

Beulah Park on Monday canceled its racing program for Tuesday because of poor track conditions. It was the eighth straight card and 15th full or partial card canceled at Beulah during its winter/spring meeting.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Louis Olah, literally and figuratively the most colorful man in the New York jockey colony, died Saturday night from complications caused by a staph infection. He was 79.

Olah was the "colors man" for the New York Racing Association, in charge of organizing and distributing the owners' silks to the riders for each race at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. He had worked in the jocks' room since 1967. Before that, Olah was a jockey, recently telling the New York Times that he won approximately 190 races, including the 1947 Interborough Handicap aboard Tavstock.

Nationhood was unable to handle Trail This when he was fourth behind him in the Jan. 5 Swift Stakes at Turf Paradise, but a couple months worth of freshening got the 6-year-old Nationhood back on track, as he got his revenge with an easy win in the $32,700 Coyote Handicap in Phoenix.

HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. - Spring Waltz made the jump from allowance ranks to graded stakes company without breaking a sweat, rallying from off the pace to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Grade 2, $200,000 Rampart Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Spring Waltz, a 5-year-old daughter of Silver Charm, had won each of her last three starts against optional claiming and allowance company, including a 13-length victory in her Gulfstream debut on Feb. 17.