HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - It appears everything is coming together for Officer Rocket heading into the Grade 3, $300,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, right down to his draw of post 6 in the nine-horse field for Saturday. Entries for the 1 1/16-mile race were taken on Wednesday.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Twilight Meteor, based in Florida with trainer Todd Pletcher, has been made the 3-1 favorite in the hypothetical "winter book" for this year's $1 million Queen's Plate at Woodbine.

The winter book was compiled by Woodbine oddsmaker Jennifer Morrison. A total of 131 horses are eligible for the Queen's Plate, a 1 1/4-mile race for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds that will be run on June 24.

Owned by Peachtree Stable, Twilight Meteor has won his last two starts, including Keeneland's 1 1/16-mile Bourbon County last Oct. 27.

ARCADIA, Calif. - When Price Tag came to the United States last fall, she had won just twice, with a third win, in the Group 1 French 1000 Guineas, having been taken away via disqualification. She got that elusive Grade 1 victory in her first start in this country, in the Matriarch Stakes last fall at Hollywood Park. But with only three wins to her credit, she was eligible for a third-level allowance race on Friday at Santa Anita, and that is where she turned up for her 2007 debut for trainer Bobby Frankel.

Even to a casual racing fan, the stretch at Fair Grounds seems to go on forever, even on a turf course smaller in diameter than the dirt track. Imagine how trainer Jim McMullen felt last Saturday as Cloudy's Knight, a grinder of a horse if ever there was one, slowly caught up to the leaders in the $500,000 Mervin Muniz Handicap.

Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award champion Street Sense will finally make his 3-year-old debut on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in the $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby. The Grade 3 event is one of four stakes on a card that also includes the $200,000 Florida Oaks and the Grade 3 Hillsborough Stakes on turf.

Steve Asmussen prefers not to make excuses when he sends out a losing horse. He even declined to do so for Appealing Zophie, though she might have had a significant one for finishing last of eight Saturday in the Fair Grounds Oaks.

"It is what it is - a bad day," Asmussen said Tuesday of Appealing Zophie's disappointing effort. But Asmussen added that this week Appealing Zophie would undergo a myectomy, a routine surgical process that can keep a horse from losing her air during the stress of a race.

When Bob Baffert returns Sunday to his old stomping grounds at Sunland Park for the $600,000 WinStar Derby, he will revisit an old tradition.

"I'll reorder from the Lucchese Boot Company," said Baffert. "It's where I stock up on boots every year."

And by the way, Baffert also hopes to return to the Sunland winner's circle. Last year, he sent out the one-two finishers in the WinStar Derby in Wanna Runner and Sky Diving, and this year he will be back trying to win with Law Breaker, one of the favorites in the 1 1/8-mile race.

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Bwana Bull and Smokey Stover, last weekend's stakes winners at Bay Meadows, may make their next appearance on the same day at Santa Anita.

Bwana Bull completed a California Derby-El Camino Real Derby sweep on Saturday to remain on the Kentucky Derby trail. His next start will probably be in either the Santa Anita Derby or the Illinois Derby at Hawthorne. Both races will be run April 7.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Curlin and Flying First Class each showed immense talent winning his maiden in his most recent start. So much so that each was added to the second pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager last weekend. Flying First Class closed at 27-1, and Curlin at 30-1. Saturday, the two will vie for favoritism when they meet winners for the first time in the Grade 3, $300,000 Rebel Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race at Oaklawn Park.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A quarter-mile into Saturday's Mervin H. Muniz Handicap at the Fair Grounds, trainer Helen Pitts's heart was in her throat. A half-mile into the race and it was a wonder she had any pulse at all after watching all the trouble her Grade 1 winner Einstein had encountered.

But to his credit, Einstein overcame every obstacle thrown his way and went on to a gutsy 1 1/2-length victory over Cloudy's Knight in the Grade 2 Muniz.