AUBURN, Wash. - The gang's all here for Friday's opener at Emerald Downs.

That, to a remarkable extent, describes the situation insofar as last year's stakes stars are concerned. Twenty-five different horses won stakes at last year's stand, and 18 of them are currently on the grounds. Another two or three, including recent Santa Anita stakes winner Raise the Bluff, seem likely to make an appearance later in the meeting. Only a Classic Lady (retired) and Diamond Dollars (deceased) are certain not to be seen.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Gouldings Green is nearing his first start of the year, and one of two options for his return is the Grade 3, $300,000 Texas Mile at Lone Star Park on April 28, said his trainer, Tony Reinstedler. He also is being considered for the Grade 3 Hanshin Cup at Arlington Park on May 26.

"He's worked two five-eighths at Churchill Downs already, so we're getting close," said Reinstedler. "It's either between the Texas Mile and the race in Chicago. It depends on how much he progresses the next 10 days.

"He's doing super."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Patrick Biancone has trained major stables on three continents, so he knows all about having to make adjustments.

"When you miss one train, you have to take another train," he said.

This pearl of wisdom applies to what Biancone is doing this weekend with Belgravia. Widely regarded as a major contender for the 133rd Kentucky Derby, Belgravia incurred a setback when contracting what Biancone termed a "serious lung infection" while training at Hollywood Park in mid-February.

"I had to stop on him and treat him for about three weeks," said Biancone.

ALTOONA, Iowa - Looking to bolster field size and increase handle, Prairie Meadows will run fewer races per card and switch its racing days during the 2007 Thoroughbred meet that begins Friday night.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The last time trainer Niall O'Callaghan and jockey Larry Melancon teamed together at Santa Anita, they won the 2001 San Antonio Handicap with Guided Tour.

"I told him to stay to the left," O'Callaghan wisecracked on Wednesday about his instructions to the jockey.

Melancon and O'Callaghan will be back at Santa Anita on Sunday to start Embossed in the $250,000 San Juan Capistrano Handicap. It is the longest stakes in California, and a race with a rich history.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Since he still has two more dress rehearsals before the big dance, Nobiz Like Shobiz's slow half-mile breeze Wednesday morning at Belmont Park is hardly cause for alarm. But, it did demonstrate that his connections still have some fine-tuning to do to be ready for the May 5 Kentucky Derby.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Patrick Biancone sent out the one-two finishers Wednesday in the $108,600 Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland, with the victorious and heavily favored Asi Siempre having a much smoother journey than when she ended her 2006 campaign in the Breeders' Cup Distaff.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Slot machines have been operating at Gulfstream Park for the first time during the 2007 meeting, and while overnight purses have never been better the new casino was certainly not the instant panacea the local racing industry had expected.

Through April 1, average daily ontrack handle was even with last year. Handle was up slightly on imported signals and down approximately 10 percent on the Gulfstream simulcast signal. The meet closes Sunday.

CHICAGO - Perhaps the only thing standing between Todd Pletcher and another sweep of Hawthorne's two graded stakes for older horses is a van that on Wednesday was headed west from Laurel Park bound for Chicago. Its equine passenger, Sweetnorthernsaint, has made the drive before, traveling here about a year ago to bury the field in the Illinois Derby, and on Saturday, he and the Pletcher-trained Master Command are the stars of the show in the National Jockey Club Handicap

There will be a sense of deja vu when trainers Dan Francisco and Paul Jones run Quarter Horses in the two Grade 3 stakes at Los Alamitos this weekend, Friday's $50,000 Miss Princess Handicap and Saturday's $25,000 Kaweah Bar Handicap.

In the Miss Princess for fillies and mares, Francisco saddles Romanticist while Jones sends out Strength in Numbers. Romanticist and Strength in Numbers have faced each other in their latest two starts and drew side-by-side in posts 4 and 5 for the Miss Princess.