ELMONT, N.Y. - For the past two days, trainer Todd Pletcher had been battling the flu, and the early results of Saturday's card at Belmont Park could not have made him feel much better. But after watching favorites Wait a While and Deadly Dealer lose, and the sprinter Keyed Entry blow the turn, Pletcher finally got to the winner's circle Saturday when Cotton Blossom ran down favored Dream Rush to take the Grade 1, $250,000 Acorn Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

"I'm struggling through it," a pale Pletcher said as he left the winner's circle.

Executive Choice shook loose on the lead under Emile Ramsammy and never looked back en route to an easy victory in the $125,800 Steady Growth Stakes.

Executive Choice set moderate fractions of 23.88 and 47.58 seconds before kicking away in the stretch to score by 7 1/2 lengths, in a time of 1:43.68 for the 1 1/16 miles. Bold Finish was a clear second, and favored Soul Rebel wound up third in the seven-horse field of Ontario-sired runners.

"He had been training really aggressive going into the race," said Ramsammy. "He ran like we expected him to."

Trainer Marty Wolfson wanted to run his long-distance specialist Tacit Agreement in Saturday's 1 1/2-mile New York New York Stakes on the main track. Unfortunately, Tacit Agreement was written out of the race following his two previous one-sided wins in the My Old Kentucky Home and Maryland My Maryland Stakes.

Valbenny overcame a spot of trouble to win her fourth stakes in the last eight months in Saturday's $154,750 Honeymoon Breeders' Cup Handicap at Hollywood Park.

The victory confirmed Valbenny's status as the leading 3-year-old turf filly in California as the division's top race of the year draws closer: the $750,000 American Oaks at 1 1/4 miles on turf on July 7.

Valbenny ($4) was hand-ridden through the stretch of the Grade 2 Honeymoon by jockey Alex Solis, winning by 1 3/4 lengths over Super Freaky. Mystic Soul finished third in the field of seven 3-year-old fillies.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The amazing recuperative powers of Teuflesberg, who rebounded from a 39-length defeat in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile to win his last two starts of 2006, were in evidence again Saturday when he bounced back from a 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby to win the Grade 2, $250,000 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park despite a troubled trip.

"He has overcome a lot of obstacles in his career, and he showed it today," winning rider Robby Albarado said.

Teuflesberg broke last after stumbling badly at the start, trailed early, and steadied in traffic on the turn.

Not five minutes after winning the Grade 1 Acorn with Cotton Blossom at Belmont Park, Todd Pletcher captured the Little Silver Stakes at Monmouth Park with another 3-year-old filly, Audacious Chloe.

MIAMI - The starting gate is a busy place in the morning during the spring and summer months at Calder with so many 2-year-olds on the grounds gearing up for their career debuts.

But sprinkled in among all the young horses and new shooters at the barrier this past Saturday morning were two of the top 3-year-olds on the grounds, Green Vegas and Hal's My Hope. Both continued preparations for upcoming assignments by working from the gate over a wet-fast racetrack.

ELMONT, N.Y. - Trainer Bill Mott lobbied owner Charlotte Weber to keep My Typhoon in training for her 5-year-old season, believing the mare had yet to reach her full potential.

Thus far, Mott has looked like a genius. My Typhoon ($9.10) won her second consecutive Grade 2 stakes Saturday, taking the $300,000 Just a Game Breeders' Cup Handicap by 3 3/4 lengths over odds-on favorite Wait a While. In winning her eighth race from 18 starts, My Typhoon, an Irish-bred daughter of Giant's Causeway, surpassed the $1 million plateau in earnings.

MUSKEGON, Mich. - All I Can Get, the top juvenile male in Michigan last year, heads a field of 10 3-year-old colts and geldings in the $50,000-guaranteed Lansing Stakes at Great Lakes Downs on Tuesday.

The Lansing, at six furlongs, is the sixth of nine races on the card, which begins at 5:10 p.m.

All I Can Get is owned by his breeder, Michael McQuade, and trained by Gerald Bennett. Mary Doser, the leading jockey at the meet, will ride All I Can Get as she did for all his races at Great Lakes Downs last year.

MIAMI - Two overnight stakes with potential Summit of Speed implications, the $50,000 Ema Bovary and the $50,000 Heckofaralph, share top billing at Calder on Sunday.

The Ema Bovary is at six furlongs for fillies and mares, the same conditions as the Grade 1, $500,000 Princess Rooney Handicap, which is the co-highlight - along with the $500,000 Smile Sprint Handicap - of the $2 million Summit of Speed card on July 7.

The Ema Bovary attracted a field of nine, led by Stolen Prayer, A Sea Trippi, and Rgirldoesn'tbluff.