Ittakestwobaby, named for trainer David Anderson's twin grandsons Jonah and Jackson, gave the trainer his first stakes winner of the season last Saturday and established the 3-year-old as a top contender for divisional honors this year in Nebraska.

Ittakestwobaby is a Nebraska-bred son of Dazzling Falls and is the second foal to race and win for his dam, Rancho Gal. A homebred owned by Anderson, Ittakestwobaby won his maiden against stakes company in his career debut last year at Lincoln, taking the State Fair Futurity by a widening three lengths.

Philadelphia Park didn't quite succeed in luring Xchanger from Maryland to make his 4-year-old debut earlier this week, but only because the multiple stakes winner isn't quite ready to race.

Trainer Mark Shuman nominated Xchanger to the $75,000 Bensalem, a 6 1/2-furlong overnight stakes that was run Tuesday. Shuman reluctantly decided to wait for another spot, however.

"I liked this race because I do want to bring him back in a sprint, where he's 2 for 2 lifetime," Shuman said late last week, "but he's still about 30 days away from being ready to race."

Peppers Pride, a 5-year-old mare who is unbeaten in 14 starts, will try to take another step closer to history in Sunday's $100,000 Sydney Valentini Handicap at Sunland Park. The mile race, for New Mexico-bred fillies and mares 3 years old and up, drew a field of seven.

Peppers Pride, owned by Joseph Allen and trained by Joel Marr, hasn't raced since capturing the New Mexico Racing Commission Handicap here Dec.o16. That was by design, however, as Marr specifically said after that race that the Valentini was her next target.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The queen of the West Coast distaff division is officially on vacation, and with Nashoba's Key out of training for 60 days, the division is temporarily up for grabs. Trainer Carla Gaines and owner Warren Williamson have made no specific plans for Nashoba's Key other than to declare now as the time for a break after Nashoba's Key's victory March 9 in the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap.

It was a pretty big deal back on Jan. 12 at Fair Grounds when Pyro posted his first official workout since returning to training following his second-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. A week before that 51.80-second tune-up, Pyro had gone a half-mile in a time too slow to make the work tab, and his final work this year at Fair Grounds, done on Monday, was scarcely any faster. Pyro was timed in a pedestrian 53.20 seconds in his first breeze since winning the Louisiana Derby. Suffice it to say, the pro-tem leader of the 3-year-old division was not asked for his best.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Trainer Michael Matz has left the door open to the possibility that Visionaire, winner of the Gotham Stakes earlier this month, could have his final Kentucky Derby prep in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 29.

Visionaire, an impressive allowance winner here earlier in the meet, rallied from last to catch Texas Wildcatter on the wire to capture the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct on March 8.

Nothing says Racecar Rhapsody has to win the Lane's End Stakes, the Turfway Park showcase that will be run Saturday for the 37th time. But if symbolism carries any weight, nothing would be more fitting.

STICKNEY, Ill. - When My Best Pal Red starts in the featured seventh race on Thursday at Hawthorne, he will be trainer Wayne Catalano's second Chicago starter of the season. There is good reason to believe that Catalano and owner Frank Calabrese will send out a few more horses in the coming months.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Necessity being the mother of invention, Bay Meadows clerk of scales Paul Nicolo found an innovative way to handle a large number of claims in Sunday's first leg of the Triple Play Series, a three-race series that offers inflated purses for claiming horses.

Pimlico Racecourse has reinstated the Grade 1 Pimlico Special to its stakes schedule after a one-year hiatus, but the race’s purse has been cut from $500,000 to $250,000, the track announced on Tuesday.

The Special will be run this year on Friday, May 16, the day before the second leg of the Triple Crown, the $1 million Preakness Stakes. Also May 16, Pimlico will card the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and four other stakes races.